Just The In Between Man
by Bubble Wrapped Kitty
Summary: Drew Carey Show. Lewis Kiniski has always been the man who women never look to for a serious relationship. Kate O'Brien has constantly refused his advances for that very same reason. But everything was about to change after a drunken night together and a surprise pregnancy.
1. Hard Day's Night

Title: Just the In-Between Man

Category: The Drew Carey Show

Rating: T

Summary: Lewis Kiniski had always been the man who women never looked to for a serious relationship. He was outwardly cynical, but could he have an inner side yearning for the picket-fence life? And what about Kate O'Brien, the one woman who's constantly refused him?

A/N: This story will be AU. Set approximately a little while after Drew and Kate have broken up.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Drew Carey Show or else it would still be airing and I wouldn't be writing here, but writing for the show. Still, we can all dream, can't we? Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter One**

The Warsaw Tavern was packed, just like it was every other evening around this time. The jukebox played some obscure eighties' rock song in the background and spirits were high as everyone made their way through mug after frosty mug of beer. In one corner near the jukebox, two men were sitting at their usual table and drinking casually from their mugs. The first man was slightly portly with thick-rimmed glasses and his light brown hair in a military-style crew cut. His suit jacket was draped lazily over the back of his chair and his loosened tie hung limply around his neck. Next to him was a man who was only slightly taller but thinner, with a bush of curly dark hair and a pleasantly goofy smile. He was dressed more casually, in a tee-shirt and jeans, and was telling a story that left his friend wide-eyed.

"And she just untied her robe and stood there looking at me," Oswald said, shaking his head. "Completely nude. I was so stunned I didn't know what to do for a moment. Then before I knew what was happening she had grabbed me and pulled me inside. She wanted a delivery from Oswald's package, if you know what I mean." He grinned, bobbing his head at this, and then took a long draught from his beer.

"Jesus, Oswald," Drew said, shaking his head and staring at his friend in awe. "Some days I just want to leave my job and start working with you. Women all over, answering their doors naked. You sure see a hell of a lot more action than the rest of us."

"Except maybe Kate," Oswald cut in and they both laughed.

Drew took another drink and then looked around. "Speaking of which, where is she? And Lewis for that matter," he added.

"No clue where Kate is, but Lewis is upstairs getting cleaned up," Oswald said, gesturing to the ceiling with his thumb. "Rough day at work and he really needed to shower. Something to do with genetically altered monkeys."

"Again?" Drew asked and shook his head. "And I thought my job was a nightmare. The only genetically altered monstrosity I have to deal with is Mimi." Oswald chuckled appreciatively. Moments later Lewis Kiniski trudged down the stairs from the apartment and paused at the bar. Without even needing to ask, the bartender handed him a mug of beer and Lewis downed it instantly. Once it had been refilled he carried it over to the table and dropped down next to Drew.

Drew choked on his mouthful of beer and gazed at Lewis in shock. There was a dark bruise that took up most of the left side of his face and the visible parts of his forearms and neck were decorated with scratches. "Lewis, God, what happened?" Drew asked with worry.

"Bad day at work," Lewis answered, his tone weary. "DrugCo tried to cross monkeys with birds and the little hybrid monsters escaped. It was like the Wizard of Oz, only worse." Drew and Oswald exchanged looks and then erupted into laughter. Lewis glared at them, sliding his mug across the tabletop back and forth between his hands. "You laugh, but you've never been attacked by super-intelligent flying monkeys."

This, of course, only brought on more laughter from his companions. Scowling, Lewis returned his attention to his beer. Thankfully a few minutes later a distraction arrived in the form of an irritable-looking Kate. She snatched Drew's mug away from him and drained it.

"I'll just get myself another beer then," Drew said sarcastically. He went to the bar and returned with another mug and a full pitcher.

"Looks like you've had a good day," Lewis said snidely in Kate's direction, giving her a meaningful look over the rim of his mug.

Kate took one look at him and gave a hollow laugh. "You're one to talk. What happened to you, the girlfriend finally get some brains and beat the crap out of you?"

Lewis grimaced but pushed the thought of his most recent girlfriend away. "What about you, your latest conquest got your panties in a twist?"

Kate returned his scowl. "As a matter of fact, we broke up," she said, pouring more beer into her mug. "The bastard was cheating on me."

Lewis felt a pang of guilt and, not trusting himself to speak, he busied his mouth with his mug. He knew that with the sour mood he was in it would be only too easy to say something that would piss Kate off, and in her emotional disposition that would be a severely unsafe endeavor.

"Oh, Kate, I'm so sorry," Oswald said, his hand finding her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. On her other side Drew placed one hand on her back and rubbed it soothingly.

"You don't need that guy, you deserve someone who will treat you better than that," Drew said with his usual optimistic tone. "You'll find somebody, just like we'll all find somebody." He looked around at them all and then added jokingly, "Well at least some of us will. Hopefully. Some day."

Kate smiled weakly. "Not helping much, Drew," she said. Drew smiled apologetically. "Let's just talk about something else, okay," she suggested with a sigh and promptly drained another beer.

"So, we watching the game at my house this weekend?" Drew asked cheerfully. There were immediate murmured agreements, as they watched the game at Drew's house every weekend. Even though it had been a pointless question, it achieved what he wanted and got the topic onto football and off of Kate.

"Lewis, you're quiet," Oswald commented suddenly.

"Hurts to talk," he lied in response, pointing at the bruise on his face. The others nodded and dismissed the subject, although Oswald continued to glance at his best friend suspiciously. They'd been friends long enough for him to tell when there was something really eating at Lewis, and he could tell that it had to do with more than a monkey bruise. He left the questions for later though, because he knew Lewis would only get irritated if he was pressed for details in front of the others.

Lewis looked down at the tabletop, unable to stand the look of outright concern on Oswald's face. His gaze found his empty mug so he grabbed the pitcher and refilled it before following Kate's example and draining it in one long swallow. He wanted nothing more than to escape the table and retreat to his bedroom for a while, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to without raising questions. He could feel the beginnings of a stress headache and Drew's overly-cheerful and Oswald's sickeningly-energetic voices were doing nothing to help. Lewis drank down pitcher after pitcher of beer in an attempt to ward off the ache but all he managed to do was make his brain feel pleasantly fuzzy. While this was a slight improvement, he was still capable of thinking about the day's events and that bothered him.

"Well, it's after midnight. I think I'm going to head home," Drew said, glancing between each of his friends with concern. It was clear he didn't want to leave Kate alone in her state, and he seemed mildly worried about Lewis as well. "Be careful, Kate. I'll see you guys tomorrow. We're still going to get lunch, right?"

"Like always," Oswald said with a smile. Drew leaned towards him and a lull in the music allowed Lewis to catch what he whispered.

"Keep an eye on Lewis, he doesn't look too good," Drew said. Oswald nodded in agreement and Drew clapped him on the shoulder before heading towards the door with one last farewell. Once Drew had vanished through the door, Lewis wordlessly stood up and stumbled to the bar. Seating himself on a barstool, he ordered yet another beer. He sipped this one more slowly than the others, although this was partly because his hands didn't seem to want to respond very well and he was afraid of dropping the beer if he moved quickly.

To his surprise a moment later Kate slid onto the stool one away from his and ordered herself a beer as well. Oswald slipped carefully into the space between them. "I think I'm going to go to bed, I have to deliver a package out of town again so I have a long day tomorrow," Oswald said slowly, glancing carefully between them. "What about you, buddy?"

Lewis shook his head. "Nah, I need to take some more medication for this bruise," he said and gestured at the beer.

Oswald nodded knowingly. "Well then I suppose I'll see you tomorrow. Are you going to be okay to drive home, Katie-Bear?" he asked. Lewis grimaced as he heard the pet name slip into Oswald's speech, apparently without his noticing, and he saw Kate pull a similar face of discomfort.

"I'll be fine," Kate said with a wave of her hand, the other one seemingly glued to the mug. "I just want to make sure I can drink Robert out of my systems tonight."

"She'll call a cab," Lewis cut in with a pointed look at Oswald. The brunette man nodded, trusting that the look meant that Lewis would watch after her.

"Well, good-night then," Oswald said, his lop-sided grin returning. He squeezed both of their shoulders before he turned and disappeared up the stairs to the apartment. An awkward, hazy air descended over the near empty tavern, the quiet murmur of voices coming from the handful of patrons that still remained and the scuffing of mugs across the tabletops the only noises. One by one, occasionally in eager-looking twos, the other customers floated out into the wintery night. The notes of some old eighties ballad became audible as the voice levels dropped, but Lewis simply sat and devoted his attention to his drink.

"You know the thing that sucks about drinking so often?" Kate's voice speaking up abruptly startled Lewis and he jumped. Immediately his head began to swim and he gripped the edges of the bar to steady himself. Kate didn't seem to notice, her eyes still focused on the frothy contents of her mug. "When you really want to get trashed, it takes a helluva lot more to do it."

"I'll drink to that," Lewis agreed and raised his mug in a toast before taking another swallow. The silence settled between them for a moment while Lewis tried to think of what to say. "I'm sorry, about what I said about your boyfriend earlier," he said suddenly, surprising even himself.

Kate glanced up at him, really looking at him for the first time since they had exchanged insults at the start of the evening. "It's okay," she said, waving her hand again. She drank the rest of her beer and a moment later another full mug appeared in front of her. The bartender looked at her and shook his head sadly before walking back out to clean off tables. "How are things with what's-her-name?" Kate asked, determinedly steering the subject away from her love life.

"Sandra," Lewis supplied. He scowled and took a long drink before answering. "It's over. We broke up last night. Well, technically early this morning. She decided I wasn't good enough for her."

"Oh, Lewis, I'm sorry," Kate said with wide-eyes. She slid from her stool onto the one beside him, swaying slightly.

"I'm used to it," Lewis grumbled darkly. "It doesn't take long before women decide that a janitor at an insane pharmaceutical company isn't good enough for them anymore. I'm just the guy they use to bide time between real relationships." It was a fact that he had come to live with, but he found that when he spoke this time there was bitterness in his tone. Not just his usual sarcasm, but an outright discontent. He puzzled over this for a moment before he realized that he was too drunk to figure out anything tonight.

"I can relate," Kate said with a similar growl. "I wind up with a new boyfriend every month."

"About as often as Oswald changes his socks," Lewis said and was laughing before he even understood the joke he had made. Kate chuckled, but didn't seem to be really paying attention to the conversation.

"We're both kind of in the same boat, aren't we?" Kate said pensively, although the effect was ruined by the thick slur. "We're just the people who are doomed to spend forever being the throw away. The people who comfort and entertain others while they look for their true loves, but never getting to have our own."

Lewis snorted and swiveled on the stool so he was directly facing her. "True love? That's just rida – ridgu – stupid," he said, stumbling over the larger word for a moment before just choosing a simpler one. "Fairy tale nonsense." A tense silence drifted between them again, during which time Lewis looked around the bar and realized they were the only ones left besides the bartender. "Kate, why wouldn't you ever date me?" he asked, the words leaping from his mouth before he could stop them. When what he had just said sunk in he froze and clamped his mouth shut, his bright green eyes widening in surprise.

Kate seemed equally shocked by the question and she took a long time in answering. "I'm not really sure. I guess I just always knew that you were one of those in-between guys, like you said," she mumbled. "I've always been trying to look for something permanent and I didn't think I would find that in you." She gulped down the rest of her beer and then stood up, wobbling slightly but holding her ground. She placed her hands on Lewis' thighs and clutched at them. Lewis felt a familiar fluttering somewhere below his stomach, but he forced the feelings away as best as he could. He knew Kate was just trying to keep her balance, not trying to arouse him.

"You able to stand up?" he asked with an eyebrow raised as he felt her grip tighten till he could feel the edges of her fingernails teasing his skin through his jeans. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and forced himself to take several deep breaths before he opened them again. Kate was still leaning against him like that, staring at him with her enormous, albeit slightly bloodshot, brown eyes.

"You able to stand up?" Kate murmured in return and Lewis' eyes widened in shock as her gaze drifted to the zipper of his pants. "What do you say we find out?"

"Are you trying to say - ?" Lewis asked, not able to finish his sentence. "You're finally giving in?"

"What the hell," Kate answered with a mischievous smile and shrug. "We're two in-between people who are in between people. Might as well spend our night with another in-betweener." Lewis couldn't believe that after all this time Kate was actually relenting and offering to sleep with him. Sure, she was drunk as hell, but then again so was he. So why not seize the opportunity while he had the chance?

"Okay," he agreed, standing up. He threw the money for his drinks onto the counter and then walked up towards his apartment. Kate followed close behind him, one of his arms held tightly in both of her hands so that she didn't fall. All of the lights in the apartment were off when they entered and the sound of Oswald's low snores rolled out through the crack beneath his door. Lewis and Kate, both emboldened by their mass consumptions of alcohol, crept through the darkened apartment towards Lewis' bedroom.


	2. The Hangovers

Kate rolled over sleepily but her head suddenly pounded angrily and she let out a loud groan. Her mouth felt fuzzy and her head was throbbing miserably. All of the infamous signs of a hangover. _Great_, she thought grumpily. _No _way_ am I going to work in this condition._ Her fingers gripped the edges of the blanket and pulled it tighter around her body.

Several striking abnormalities hit her at the same moment and confused her foggy mind. First off, the blanket that she pulled around her was thicker than the sheets that she slept under at home, and they smelled faintly of cologne. Also when she pulled her arms against her body they connected with her bare chest. Her eyes flicked open instantly. One hasty glance revealed the fact that she was nude beneath the warm blanket. Feeling extremely self-conscious, especially since she had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there, she wrapped the blankets around her body and sat up to look around.

The room was dimly lit, the only illumination coming from the sunlight filtering through the cracks in the curtains. Kate could hardly make out the contents of the room in the semi-darkness, but she could pick out a handful of different pieces of furniture. There was a bureau standing against one wall with a small bookshelf standing next to it. Beside the bed was a nightstand with an ugly, old-fashioned lamp on it, and to her embarrassment she could make out the shadows of her discarded clothing strewn across the floor of the bedroom and they were mingled with a few articles of clothing that she knew were not her own. A quick survey of the bed helped her determine that she was alone in the room, although where in the world this room was she still couldn't be sure.

Trying to be quiet, Kate reached over and flicked the switch on the lamp. It flared into life, casting a dull orange light that only lit half of the room. She spotted a piece of paper resting on the nightstand, its corner pinned beneath the edge of the lamp. Squinting her eyes because of her headache, Kate lifted the paper close to her face and peered at the untidy scrawl.

_Kate,_

_I left you to sleep because I knew you'd have a horrible hangover. I'm out in the living room, unless you slept past ten, then I'm at work. I'll leave out the aspirin bottle and a beer for you on the table. You're welcome to stay here until you are able to drive home._

There was no signature but Kate didn't need one to recognize that handwriting. Filled with horror, she glanced at the wall opposite the bed and saw a worn poster that confirmed her fears without a doubt. Star Trek. Two of the shoes that lie scattered among the clothing were enormous, and in the light of the lamp she was now able to recognize several pieces of clothing.

Lewis.

There were no clocks in the room so she couldn't be sure of the time or if Lewis would even still be in the apartment. Kate scrambled out of the bed and managed to unearth all of her clothes with the exception of one sock. She hastily dressed and then ran her fingers through her hair, although the tug of the snarls made her wince as they enforced her headache. Once she was content that she was as presentable as she could possibly be, she walked slowly out to the living room, trying to ignore the way the world seemed to wobble.

Lewis was sitting at the booth table, his long legs stretched out across the leather and his head reclined back on the edge of the seats. He was clad in only a white tee-shirt and a pair of dark blue boxers, and there was a bag of frozen vegetables on his forehead. Judging by the fact that his mouth was opened and he was breathing deeply, Kate assumed that he had fallen asleep. There was an opened beer on the table in front of him, and on the opposite side of the table were an unopened beer and a bottle of aspirin, just like he'd promised.

Kate grabbed the beer and a used it to take a few of the aspirin. Feeling a tremor of nerves, she decided not to wake Lewis. She wasn't sure how she felt about the idea of having slept with him, even if she was so drunk she couldn't remember it. Instead she crept as quietly as she could from the apartment and back down into the bar. To her relief the bartender was nowhere to be seen, so she hastily slipped out of the Warsaw and made her way to her car. There was a soft layer of powdery snow coating it and she brushed it off before she climbed into the car, and once it had warmed up she drove home. She only paused long enough to call her boss and tell him that she would be taking a sick day before she collapsed on her couch and tried to relax. There was just one thought she couldn't get to leave her alone, no matter how she tried.

She had just had sex with Lewis Michelangelo Kiniski.

* * *

Lewis heard the faint sound of a door and he grumbled and stirred. A sudden pain in his head made him groan and he forced himself to sit up. As something slipped off of his face and into his lap, his hand went to his forehead.

"Ow, brain freeze," he whimpered, feeling the frigid skin of his brow. Then he realized where the still cold vegetables were sitting and he hastily removed them from his lap and dropped them on the table. "Great, now I have brain freeze _and_ a chilled dick." Mumbling grumpily, he reached for the beer on the table and took a deep swallow. Thankfully most of his headache from the hangover was fading and he no longer felt that his mouth was stuffed with cotton, but now he had a headache from falling asleep with frozen vegetables on his face and a cramp in his neck from his awkward sleeping position.

Groaning, Lewis climbed out of the booth and made his way over to replace the vegetables in the freezer. He caught a glance at the clock, which for reasons unknown was lying in the kitchen sink, and cursed. _Nine forty-five._ "Damn it, I'm going to be late." He drained the rest of his beer and walked into his bedroom, being quiet in case Kate was still there. When he saw that she wasn't he resumed his frantic preparations for work.

Without the time to shower and clean up, he simply slid his coveralls over the top of his boxers and tee-shirt. He grabbed the nearest sock and tried to slip it on but couldn't get it over his toes. Confused, he looked down at the tiny sock and concluded distractedly that it must not have been his own. Tossing it thoughtlessly over his shoulder, he finally managed to find his own socks and once he was fully dressed he hurried out of the door at exactly ten o'clock.

* * *

Drew leaned back in his chair and checked his watch. It was almost two, which meant that it was nearly lunch time. He smiled eagerly, already contemplating the different meal choices he could have.

"Anxious to hit the trough, pig?" Mimi asked, a sneer on her face as she dropped a stack of manila folders on his desk.

"Well I was until I saw that hideous mask you're wearing," Drew responded casually, staring at her face with a serious expression. "Oh my god, that's your actual face. Wow, now I've really lost my appetite." He shook his head with a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair again. "Well, congratulations, you just became the scare tactic half of my new diet."

Mimi scowled. "You could use a diet," she snapped. "Dough boy," she added as she made her way back to the desk. At that moment, Oswald approached her in his typical brown work uniform.

"Aw, Mimi, you shouldn't call yourself names like that," he said, trying to hold in a smile as he patted her on the shoulder. "Remember, you're only a dough boy if you think you are."

"And nothing changes the fact that you're an idiot," Mimi said, shrugging off his hand. "What do you want?"

"Package for Mr. Wick," Oswald said simply and placed the box on her desk before turning and stepping into Drew's cubicle. He perched himself on the edge of the desk and Drew swiveled to face him. "Ready for lunch?"

"You bet," Drew said with a grin. "Do you know if Kate and Lewis are coming?"

"No clue," Oswald said, shifting almost anxiously. "I haven't seen or heard from Kate since I went up to bed last night, although her car was still in the parking lot when I left so I think she must have taken a cab home. And Lewis was passed out on the couch with a beer and bottle of aspirin when I left this morning so who knows if he even made it to work."

Drew shook his head sadly and then pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I hope they're both alright," he said quietly. "They hit the bottles pretty hard last night. I don't think I've seen either of them that smashed in a while."

"No kidding," Oswald said in agreement, his face glowing with childish amazement. "Lewis hardly spoke all night, and he didn't even hit on Kate either. He normally does that whenever he finds out she's single."

"That's true, I hadn't really noticed," Drew said, his face thoughtful as he reran the night's conversations through his head. Truthfully, he hadn't really been paying more than a spot of attention to Lewis as his entire energy was focused on Kate. Still, he wasn't going to admit that to Oswald, since Lewis was his best friend. Drew knew he should be paying equal attention to all of his friends, but he couldn't help but play favorites with Kate as she was not only his best friend but he was also still in love with her even though they had been broken up for a while now.

"I think there was a lot more on his mind than some bruises from a monkey," Drew added in, keeping the subject on Lewis. "I've never known work injuries to stop him from being a smart ass."

Oswald nodded, but his eyes widened suddenly as he saw Lewis' lanky frame striding toward them. He surveyed his tall friend with a worried eye. Lewis' hair was distinctly more tousled than usual and there were enormous rings beneath his eyes to match his dark bruise. In Oswald's opinion, he resembled a zombie as his whole figure gave off a vaguely zoned out aura.

"Hey, buddy," Oswald said, trying to sound cheerful as he stood up next to Lewis in the cubicle. He clapped Lewis on the back and Lewis promptly stumbled forward dangerously. "Whoa, careful," Oswald said and put a hand on his friend's chest to keep him standing.

"You look awful," Drew commented, the expression of concern on his face echoing Oswald's own.

"Oh good, because I feel wonderful," Lewis said sarcastically, his voice droning slightly.

"Well, at least your sense of humor's come back," Drew said. He stood up and walked around to stand beside his two friends, glancing from one to the other with curiosity. Now he definitely knew that there had been something up with Lewis the night before, as his bruises didn't seem to stop him from wanting to speak his word now. "Hey Lewis, did Kate get home alright?"

"How should I –?" Lewis trailed off, remembering that he was supposed to have seen Kate into a cab after their drinks and that the other two knew nothing of what had occurred between him and Kate after they had left. "Oh, right, I forgot. Brain's still a bit foggy. Yeah, she was fine. Had a few more drinks and then caught a cab home. I doubt she'll be at work though, she is going to have a hangover from hell today with how much she drank."

"Maybe we should go and check up on her later," Oswald suggested, glancing at Drew for support.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Drew agreed. "But it will have to wait until after work, because I only have a forty-five minute lunch break and I intend to enjoy it fully. I'm starving." Oswald murmured an agreement and they started out of the cubicle. Lewis trailed behind them, his mind only half-focused on what was going on around him. More than once he nearly ran into people, only being saved when they ducked out of his way at the last second, as he blindly followed in Drew and Oswald's wake.

"You sure you're alright?" Oswald asked Lewis nervously, startling him. They had just stepped into the elevator and when it lurched into motion Lewis' knees buckled and he sagged against the handrails for a moment before he was able to straighten himself out again with Oswald's help. The movement had resurrected Lewis' headache and he massaged one of his temples with his eyes squeezed shut.

"Yeah, I think I just had one too many beers last night," Lewis replied when he realized he still needed to give a response.

"Yeah, you sure did drink quite a bit," Drew agreed, exchanging looks with Oswald again before they both looked back at Lewis. "That bruise really hurt you that bad or was there more to the story?"

"The bruise is murder," Lewis grumbled out, forcing his legs to steady beneath him. This was quickly lost as the elevator lurched to a stop and he would have collapsed to his knees were it not for his friends' hands holding him up. They heaved him back up onto his feet and once they were all sure that he could walk normally again they exited the elevator. Lewis was grateful that they had accepted his statement as an answer and didn't press him further. He really wasn't in the mood to talk about Sandra right now. He continued along between the two silently as they made their way out to Drew's car with the two of them walking protectively on either side of him, ready to catch him every time his legs wobbled.

_Man, I'm this wasted and I didn't even drink as much as Kate,_ Lewis thought with a hint of dry humor. _I can't even imagine how great she must feel right now._


	3. Enough On My Mind Already

Kate slipped in and out of consciousness all day, groaning and complaining aloud to her silent house the entire time. There were a few occasions where her movements made the world spin and more than once she had to stumble into the bathroom to hang shakily over the toilet. Sometime in the middle of the day she finally got up the ambition and took a long bath, which managed to help her relax and she left it feeling clean and refreshed. The symptoms of her hangover had begun to fade, although she still felt much worse than she had in a while.

There was a pro and a con about the thoughts going through her head. The brightest spot was that she wasn't thinking about her break-up with Robert at all, and he seemed to be almost completely driven from her mind. However this empty void left room for someone else to butt in, and that someone else was Lewis. She couldn't believe that after almost thirty years of his hinting she had actually said yes, and had last night given in to him. She didn't remember doing this, but then again if the truth was told she couldn't remember much of the night before. She vaguely recalled some random bits of conversation and she could still remember Drew saying that he was leaving. She had gone over to the bar and Lewis had been there, but everything after that was a haze. A blur of murmured talking, although what the topics had been were beyond her, strange emotions, and for some reason she kept thinking of the Beatles.

_Must have been one of the songs on the jukebox_, she concluded with a dismissive shrug. She quickly forgot about this and returned to the main thread of her thoughts. Sex with Lewis. The very thought made her shudder; she had never imagined having sex with him, he was just too weird for her. He wasn't weird in the same way that Oswald was, he was truly a bit insane, a fact which Kate openly blamed on all of his time at DrugCo. She knew that radiation was going to fry his brains someday, and this became more and more pronounced every day. There were plenty of times when he truly scared her with how creepy he could be. So what in the world had driven her to bed with him?

"The beer," she said aloud. She lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling although she was not really seeing it. "I was drunk. I was heart-broken. I was desperate. That was it." She said all of this firmly, as if she were truly trying to convince someone of this, although she was really just trying to quiet that voice in the back of her head that kept asking questions. Questions she didn't want to know the answers to. Like the next one that escaped her and left her stunned over the very possibility. "I wonder if it was good."

She shuddered again and hastily brushed that thought away. The idea of actually having sex with Lewis, not only that but enjoyable sex, was just too much for her to handle on top of everything else. Thankfully she was spared thinking about it by the sound of a knock on the door. Hauling herself off of the bed, she tied her bathrobe securely around her body and started toward the living room.

"Who is it?" she called as she stepped into the room.

"It's Drew and Oswald," came the response in what Kate recognized to be Drew's voice.

Kate paused in mid-step before continuing to the door in a slower pace. "No Lewis?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Nah, he went home to sleep," Oswald's voice spoke up. "Are you going to let us in?" Kate reached the door and opened it, stepping back to let them in.

"Nice robe," Drew noted with a raised eyebrow and laugh.

"Shut up," Kate said and slapped his arm, although it lacked its normal conviction because she was afraid if she swung that hard she would fall over. "If you just make yourselves at home, like I know you will, I'll go change," she said and then turned and headed back into her room. She dressed carefully in some comfortable clothes before going back out into the living room. Drew and Oswald were sitting on the couch, talking in low voices, but stopped when she entered.

"Alright, gossip girls, what did you want?" Kate asked with a smirk, collapsing into one of the armchairs.

"We just came by to make sure you were alright," Drew said slowly.

"You know, after last night," Oswald chimed in, although less brightly than normal. "You must have had a hard one with the way you were banging those drinks."

Kate shook her head to clear it, the unintentionally innuendoes in Oswald's statement sending her brain whirling. She forced her mind off of Lewis and then nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said, partially honest. Part of her was okay but the other part was going crazy. She really wanted someone to talk to about Lewis, but who? She couldn't talk to Drew or Oswald, they would josh her endlessly and besides that she knew that they both were still in love with her. Beyond them, Lewis was her only other close friend and she wasn't about to talk to him about it. She didn't even know if she was ready to face him yet. The only friends she had who were girls had been the guys' girlfriends, and each time they broke up the girls just lost contact with each other.

"You sure?" Oswald's voice cut into her musing and startled her back to reality. "You looked, well, troubled." Kate chuckled dryly. Troubled was certainly the understatement of the year, but thankfully Drew came to the rescue.

"Of course she is," he hissed to Oswald. "She just broke up with her boyfriend. That makes people troubled, Oswald."

"Oh, right," Oswald replied, looking slightly downcast. Kate smiled faintly. It was at these moments of naïve innocence that she found him most adorable; the sweet way he suddenly became so vulnerable and shy that was completely alluring. It was one of the things she missed since she'd broken up with him; she hadn't found another man who was nearly as childishly charming as him. Drew had come close a few times, but mostly he had been more maturely sweet than the middle-school romance that Oswald had usually displayed.

"It's okay, Oswald," Kate said with a soft smile and she reached over to pat his arm lightly. A grin formed on his face at the touch and he gave her a grateful look.

"So I take it the hangover's fading?" Drew asked. Kate nodded slowly and Oswald gave a laugh.

"Lucky you, you should see Lewis," Oswald chipped in. "He is completely wiped out. Found him passed out in the booth in the living room this morning and he hasn't been functioning properly all day. Poor guy is suffering pretty bad. I think he drank more than he thinks he did because normally he doesn't get it this bad."

Kate was surprised to feel a flicker of hope at Oswald's words until she understood why these almost came as good news. If Lewis was in worse condition than she was, maybe he wouldn't remember that they had slept together. Then she could escape all of the awkwardness by just never mentioning the incident again. It was a feeble hope, but a hope none-the-less.

"Well, anyway, now that we know you're okay maybe we should leave you to get some sleep," Drew said, shifting a little uncomfortably. "You'll want to sleep off the rest of that hangover so you can get back to work tomorrow. I don't think I could stand another lunch with just Oswald and Lewis."

Oswald chuckled and then paused. "Hey," he said as he realized that was supposed to be offensive. "What was so wrong about it?"

Drew raised an eyebrow as he looked at Oswald. "Well Lewis looked like he was stoned out of his head and kept nearly falling out of his chair while you were trying to liberate the kiddie meal toys from the display case," he deadpanned.

"You should know better than to take him there for lunch," Kate said, trying to act serious through her smile.

"I know," Drew said with an overly-dramatic sigh. "But you can't exactly take the hangover zombie to a nicer restaurant."

Kate nodded slowly. "Good point," she said. "Oh, and this may be obvious, but I don't think I'm going to be joining you guys at the Warsaw tonight."

"I'd cart you back out if you did," Drew said, laughing. Kate gave him a look that said quite clearly, 'I'd like to see you try.' "Ah, I recognize that expression. Time to go Oswald. Kate needs her sleep and I need to get something to eat soon since you got us kicked out of the restaurant before I could finish my lunch."

Oswald grinned guiltily as he stood up. "Okay, get feeling better, Katie-Bear," he said and stooped to give her a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you, Oz," Kate replied, forcing herself to keep smiling even though she had noticed Oswald use her pet-name from when they'd been dating again. This made her a little nervous, as she was afraid that Oswald would take the fact that she was single again to try and get back together with her and she wasn't sure that she wanted that, especially not just yet. "Bye, Drew," she said as he gave her a hug as well.

"Bye, Kate," Drew replied with that calm smile of his. "Get some rest."

"Yes, Doctor," Kate said sarcastically. Drew just laughed and gave her a stern nod before following Oswald out of the apartment door. Once it had closed behind them Kate let out a sigh and leaned back in the armchair. The tension of being alone with two of her ex-boyfriends who just happened to be her closest friends and who were both still in love with her was certainly tiring. As if she didn't have enough on her mind already.


	4. Boy Talk

Lewis was sitting in the booth in the apartment living room, staring dazedly at the blank television screen. There was an opened beer sitting in front of him, although he was toying with it more than actually drinking it. The room was nearly silent except for the sound of his bottle sliding back and forth between his hands on the tabletop over the murmuring of voices from downstairs as the nine-to-fivers began their ritual relaxing at the bar below.

The muffled sound of footsteps drawing closer made Lewis glance up at the door just as it swung open. Oswald came in, still dressed in his work uniform, and tossed his coat over the back of the nearest door. "Hey," he said brightly when he saw Lewis sitting at the booth. "Drinking a beer already? I thought you'd stay away for a while after last night."

"Just needed something to steady myself," Lewis said and took a swallow.

"Sounds good to me," Oswald replied. "I'll go change and join you." He disappeared into his room for a while and then reemerged in jeans and a tee-shirt. After grabbing a beer from the fridge he slid into the booth on the side opposite Lewis.

"So, did you go with Drew to see Kate?" Lewis asked curiously, assuming that this was the reason that Oswald was so much later coming home than usual. Either that or he'd gotten lost delivering a package again.

"Yeah, she's doing okay," Oswald said with a slow nod. "She looks a lot better than you did earlier."

"You think she looks a lot better than everything," Lewis pointed out with an arched eyebrow. Oswald gave him an indignant look as Lewis drank down half of his beer. "Besides, there are a lot of things that look better than I did earlier."

"Including you," Oswald commented. "Feeling better?"

"A bit," was Lewis' elusive answer. He was feeling a little better physically but that had allowed his mentality to return and his mind was brooding on the events of the day before. His cynical moodiness was taking over again and he wanted nothing more than to get drunk and forget it all, but he knew that his body was rejecting the very idea.

Oswald could feel this air of tension around him and his brow furrowed. From this angle he had a full view of the bruise on Lewis' face and something about it didn't sit right with him. "So are you going to tell me what you were upset about yesterday?"

Lewis knew that he had a guilty look on his face so he kept his eyes on his drink. "Getting your ass handed to you by mutant primates causes a loss of pride," he said with a hollow laugh. "Besides, who said I was upset yesterday?"

"You didn't talk all day," Oswald said with a chuckle, reaching over and patting Lewis' shoulder. "That's usually a give-away that you aren't feeling right. Also it's rare that you drink to get drunk like you did last night. So, what happened, buddy?"

Lewis sighed heavily. "Can't you be content with worrying about Kate and leave me alone?" he asked hopefully, although there was little emotion behind his voice. He'd never admit it to anyone, but being able to confide in his best friend was a relief. He always acted as if he was harassed into it and simply gave in so Oswald would give him some peace, but it was just that: an act. He figured that Oswald probably knew this, too, but it was a force of habit.

Oswald laughed at the familiar aversion to talking in Lewis' voice. "No, because I live with you, and living with you when you're moody is not fun," he said with a small shrug. He and Lewis exchanged amused smiles at this comment. "Is it Sandra?"

Lewis' smile faltered and he broke eye contact. "Yeah, we broke things off," he said dully. "Well, actually she broke up with me, but after she hit me in the face with the lamp I didn't argue with it."

Oswald's jaw dropped and he gaped at Lewis. "So the bruise really did come from her?" he asked in amazement. "What about the scratches?"

"Those are actually from the monkeys," Lewis answered, laughing blankly. "Damn little buggers had talons."

Oswald smiled at this thought, the mental image of the monkey birds forming but he brushed it away and returned to the conversation. "Why'd she hit you?" he asked quietly. "I thought you two were getting pretty serious."

"I thought we were, too," Lewis said. He sighed and lounged back, the leather squeaking as the pressure of his body met it. "Apparently that wasn't what she wanted. I told her that I was really starting to care about her and she got upset. She told me she didn't want to be in a serious relationship and she was leaving. When I tried to argue she grabbed the lamp and whacked me across the face with the base." He shook his head and his hand unconsciously touched the bruise, making him wince.

"Harsh," Oswald said, concern in his eyes as he gazed at his best friend. "That's a shame; we all thought she might have been the one for you."

Lewis laughed darkly at this thought. "I don't think there is a 'one' for me," he said, his cynical nature taking full control again. He'd been foolish thinking that he could have a real, long-term relationship.

"Of course there is," Oswald said, optimistic as always even though he knew that his encouragement would be lost on his best friend. "There's someone for everyone. You've just had a rough time finding her. Hell, so have I, and Drew, and Kate. But at least we can all have a hard time finding them together. Think how much it would suck alone."

"I'll drink to that," Lewis said with a smile, his eyes silently giving Oswald grateful thanks. They both raised their bottles and Lewis said, "To being single together." They tapped their bottles together and then both promptly took deep swallows. They lapsed into silence for a while, both distracted with other thoughts.

"You're going to go after Kate again, aren't you?" Lewis suddenly asked and Oswald twitched in surprise. "Now that she's single again, you're going to try and get her back."

Oswald shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know," he said in a weary voice. "I've thought about it but I just can't figure anything out. I want her back, I won't deny it. I still love her, Lewis. I just can't figure out what she wants."

"You have to worry about Drew on top of all of that," Lewis pointed out. "You know he wants her back, too. Seems like she's in the middle of everyone's heart strings, isn't she?"

"Yeah, there's been romance between all of us, except you," Oswald said with a laugh, nursing his beer. "I wonder why she never dated you."

"Because I'm an ass," Lewis said simply. "She can't stand me because I'm the only one who can be more obnoxious and cynical than her."

"Makes sense," Oswald said with a laugh. Lewis echoed his laugh and turned his attention away from his friend. This was all true; Kate had shown romantic interest in all of her friends except for him. No matter how much he flirted or hinted, she had always turned him away. At least until last night.

Lewis glanced up at Oswald, who was drinking his beer slowly with a lost expression. He wondered what Oswald and Drew would think if they found out that Kate had finally given in to him. What might have happened to their friendship if Oswald had found Kate in Lewis' room this morning? The image of Oswald's betrayed face formed in his mind and Lewis shook it away. He wasn't sure he could stand seeing his best friend hurt like that, even if it was something he had dearly wanted. He vowed at that moment to put any fantasies of Kate from his mind and forget about it all. It's not like a relationship with Kate would ever have led to anything anyway; they were both just in-betweeners, like they'd said last night. It was a fling, nothing else, and would never be more than that.

"You okay, buddy?" Oswald's question jerked Lewis back into reality and he focused on his friend with a slightly dazed expression.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, shaking his head. "Just spaced out."

Oswald laughed. "Hey, you want to come down to the bar and hang with me and Drew now that you can actually keep up a conversation?" he asked with his characteristic grin. "Just don't drink much so you can still walk again tomorrow."

"Sure, why not?" Lewis grunted. He really didn't want to be down among the noisy crowds and so near the temptation of alcohol, but he needed something to keep his mind of his women troubles and he knew with the condition he was in he wouldn't be able to focus on any better distractions.

"Excellent," Oswald said, standing up. "Just the boys tonight. This will be fun." Lewis forced a grin and joined him as they started down the stairs into the bar. He was inwardly relieved that Kate wouldn't be there; he didn't know if they would be able to act completely casual with last night still on their minds. _Provided she even remembers any of last night,_ he added in his thoughts. _Who knows, with how drunk she was she may not remember much._


	5. The Confidant

It had been a full week since the incident with Lewis, and Kate was sitting at the counter of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, just reorganizing a few things before it was time for her to clock out. She'd just locked up the cash register when she looked up and saw a familiar figure walking past.

"Eugene?" she asked in surprise.

The balding man paused in mid-step, turning to see who had spoken. A smile lit his face when he spotted her and he redirected his steps towards her. "Kate, how are you?"

"I'm alright," Kate said with a pleasant smile. It had been a while since she'd seen him and he seemed to have aged greatly in that time. His originally light brown ring of hair had turned pure white, but as Kate surveyed him she thought that it suited him. "What are you doing here?"

"Job hunting," Eugene replied with a weary sigh. "I heard that they were hiring and figured I could give it a try. I've just been doing temp jobs since I left Winfred-Louder, so I'm looking for steady work. I didn't know you worked here."

"I just started a few weeks ago," Kate answered.

"That's great," Eugene said, and there was a genuinely happy smile on his face. That was something that Kate had always liked about Eugene, he had such an expressive face. Suddenly his grin turned slightly mischievous and he asked, "So how are you and dear old Drew doing?"

Kate's smile faltered slightly. "We actually aren't together anymore," she admitted. "We haven't been for quite a while."

"Oh, Kate, I'm sorry," Eugene said apologetically and his hand found hers on the counter and gave it a small squeeze. "What happened? You seemed like such a good match."

"We just had too many differences," Kate said with a small shrug to show that she really didn't mind. "I think it was the decision on kids that finally pushed it past the limit."

"He wants them and you don't?" Eugene asked curiously. Kate nodded. "I can see him wanting children." There was a slightly downcast expression on Eugene's face and Kate thought that she could guess what it was about. She remembered that Eugene had been attracted to Drew and she guessed that he was thinking that if they got together then Drew would still never be able to have children of his own.

"How has your love life been?" Kate asked to start the conversation again.

Eugene gave a hollow laugh. "Practically non-existent," he said dully. "Not many men are interested in someone as old as I am. I'm just not as pleasing to the eye as all of those younger men."

Kate gave him a sad smile. "Don't worry, Eugene, you'll find someone," she said and squeezed his hand, which was still resting on the countertop. "You're a sweet guy, and someone will realize that."

"Thanks," Eugene said, giving her a grateful smile. His expression, however, remained sad and his downcast brown eyes reminded her of a lost puppy.

"Do you need someone to talk to?" she asked suddenly. "My shift just ended." Eugene looked up at her with a spark of hope in his face that said it all without words. Fifteen minutes later, Kate was being let into Eugene's small apartment. She looked around at the modest furnishings and smiled. It looked just like you would expect any single man's apartment to, although perhaps slightly tidier than the average. "This is nice," she said as she looked around.

"Thanks," Eugene said with a small smile as he led her into the small kitchen and dining room. "Beer?" Kate nodded and he brought over two bottles from the fridge, dropping into the seat beside her at the little square dining room table.

"So what's the matter?" Kate asked, glancing sideways at Eugene. The older man popped the cap off of his beer and took a swallow in silence. Then he placed his elbow on the tabletop and set his chin in his cupped hand.

"Typical dating problems," Eugene replied dully. "It seems every guy I am with decides to move on to other things as soon as I really start to fall for him. It makes me wonder if there is someone out there for me or if I'm just doomed to spend the rest of my life like this." Kate stared at Eugene with surprise for a moment and was startled to feel such a connection. She remembered so well having thought this same thing time and time again. Eugene took a gulp of his beer and then continued. "Like just last month, I had been seeing this guy for about three months," he explained. "There was a real chemistry between us, or so I thought. The day I realized I was in love with him he tells me that he can't handle the commitment and wants to see other people. Says he doesn't feel right being with me, that he needs to find someone his own age. He's only eight years younger than me, it's not like it was a whole generation."

"Oh, Eugene, I'm sorry," Kate said, reaching across to pat his arm lightly.

"It just seemed like maybe this time would have been different," he said, his gaze focused on something that only he could see. "I really thought that for once it would last." Eugene's eyes were filmed with tears but he rubbed them away and after taking a deep breath he seemed to be composed again.

"I know how you feel," Kate said in a voice heavy with emotion. "The man I was with just recently, I had gotten really close to. He gave all the hints that he was going to propose, I was so excited. I thought that maybe this relationship would actually pan out. And then I found out he was cheating on me. With his secretary. How classic is that?" Kate scoffed, her anger and hurt taking over until she was talking without thinking. "He hurt me so bad. I got more drunk that night then I'd been in ages, or at least since the last holiday. Then next thing I know I'm waking up naked in Lew-" Kate immediately stopped, her eyes widening as she realized what she'd been about to say.

Eugene was staring at her with a surprise etched on his face to match her own, clearly having understood what she'd stopped herself from saying. "Lewis?" Eugene asked curiously, one eyebrow cocked in interest. "Drew's tall friend?" Stricken with embarrassment, Kate merely nodded with her hands covering her face. "You slept with him?"

"Well, it was…you see I'm…" Kate stopped in her ramblings as something suddenly occurred to her. All of this time she had been looking for someone to talk to about what had happened between her and Lewis. She had gotten so distracted she was nearing the breaking point and the other day she had come within breaths of confessing the truth to Drew. Perhaps Eugene was her saving grace. He was a sweet enough guy and she knew that he wouldn't tell anyone else if she asked him not to. Maybe he could even give her advice. In the least, at least she'd get the secret off of her chest. "Yes, I did," she said finally, her answer coming out in a heavy sigh.

"Why so upset about it?" Eugene asked, his smile turning mischievous. "He is pretty cute. And he has a nice ass. Was he bad in bed?"

Kate glanced up at Eugene and felt herself laughing at the expression on his face. "Honestly, I don't remember," she said. "Like I said, I was drunk. That last thing I remember was drinking at the bar, I think we were talking about something, and then the next morning I'm waking up in his bed, naked. I think that's a pretty good indicator."

"I won't argue there," Eugene said. "It is about the only answer that makes sense. You were drunk, heart-broken, and a friend offered you a night to forget it all. I'd take it in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, that's what I figure happened," Kate agreed, chewing her bottom lip.

"Well then what's got you so worried?"

Kate paused thoughtfully. "It's just – it's _Lewis_," she said as if that was the answer. "He's just so strange and bizarre. I mean, I've never looked at Lewis as someone I would want to get close to. I dated Oswald, and then I dated Drew, and I slept with both of them without any worries. It just seemed okay to be intimate with either of them. But there's something so weird about Lewis that the idea of getting close to him makes me nervous."

"I don't know, I think there's more to him than you first see," Eugene put in. "I think there's a shy and nervous man underneath. When I was talking to him at Steve's bachelor party he seemed to pull back from the affection and he looked nervous. There's probably some sort of inner part of him that is scared, and that's why he acts the way he does."

Kate had to stop herself from laughing, and she chose not to point out that Lewis' nerves probably came from the fact that a guy was flirting with him. "Still, on top of all that, he just irritates the hell out of me," Kate continued to change the subject before she laughed aloud. "I've never been really close to him, even as a friend, like I was with Drew and Oswald. He's actually offered to sleep with me dozens of times before, but I always turned him away without a second thought. There's always been something about him that pushes me away. I just never saw myself being close to him and now the fact that I slept with him makes me uneasy."

"Because you're afraid it was from some secret desire to be with him that you've never thought about before?" Eugene asked.

"Get out of my head," Kate said in response. "It makes me wonder a bunch of things. Who made the first move? Was all of his flirting before something from a serious attraction or did he just want sex? Why did I sleep with him? Was it the alcohol, or the rebound from breaking up with Robert, or was it something I really wanted?"

"Or a combination of all of them?" Eugene suggested with an innocent shrug. Kate muttered something inaudible and took a drink. "Why is it such a bad thing that you slept with Lewis? You were hurt and on the rebound and he showed you the attention you needed. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Maybe you're right," Kate said, trying to get her mind to latch onto the idea. "And he was upset too; his girlfriend broke up with him the day before."

"Well so, there you go," Eugene said with a nod. "You were both just looking for a little distraction and just happened to find each other. Have you talked to each other about it?"

Kate shook her head. "No, we haven't even mentioned it at all," she said. "I think I'm afraid of knowing exactly what happened that night, and if we talked about it then it would mean it really happened. And I'm secretly hoping he was too drunk to remember it, but I doubt that's true since he woke up before me and had left a note for me on the bedside table."

"How sweet," Eugene cooed, but then stopped at the look Kate gave him. "Anyway, if he hasn't tried to talk to you about it then I think that means he was just looking for a one time deal, like you were. It was something that happened once and will never happen again. That's all. He's not looking for anything more so I think you can just let it go and stop worrying about it."

"You're right," Kate said, a smile coming to her face as she grasped this notion. "It was just a drunken fling, nothing more. It's over and I don't have to worry about it." She looked over at Eugene and pulled him into a one-armed hug. "Thanks, Eugene."

"It was nothing," Eugene said, smiling in return. After a moment his smile turned into one of overly-emphasized casualness and he added questioningly, "So if Drew's single again, do you think he'd be interested?"

Kate looked at Eugene and found it extremely difficult to not laugh. When she answered a few giggles escaped into her words. "Sorry, Eugene, but I don't think so," she said. "You might have better luck with Oswald though. There are times when I wonder if he might be – well – gay."

"Oswald?" Eugene asked, a thoughtful expression on his face. "The dark-haired one? I'll have to remember that." Kate couldn't help it; she broke down in laughter.


	6. Lewis, You Think Too Much

Drew, Oswald, and Lewis were sitting at their usual table at the Warsaw, cold beers sitting in front of them while they chatted idly about their days. Drew was in the middle of another rant about the injustices of his job and Lewis and Oswald were half-listening, only replying when Drew gave them a look that meant he expected a response.

"Yeah, that's right," Lewis chimed in at one of these moments. Drew seemed content with the answer and drooped into a tumultuous silence as he nursed his drink. After a moment Lewis glanced at the other two and asked, "So where's Kate?"

"Still out with that stomach flu," Oswald responded as Drew's mouth was currently full of beer. "She's been throwing up almost every day."

"Still?" Lewis asked incredulously. "It's been like two weeks."

"I know," Oswald said, his expression full of worry. "I keep trying to convince her to go to a doctor but she just gives me that look that makes me fear for my life."

Lewis laughed. "Any look Kate gives me makes me fear for my life."

"Yeah, well, you usually deserve those looks," Drew pointed out.

"Never said I didn't," Lewis said with a shrug. He took a drink and then continued with the conversation. "So do you think she'll ever actually go to the doctor's or will she just wait 'til she dies and then Oswald can tell her 'told you so?'"

"Lewis," Oswald said in exasperation. Lewis shrugged with a goofy grin, letting them know that he was only kidding. "I don't know, I think she might go if she doesn't get better soon. Two weeks is a pretty long time to have the flu, maybe she'll finally give up and go see a doctor if it doesn't go away in a day or two."

"You know, Eugene's been going by to see her practically every day," Drew put in, a strange look on his face.

"Eugene?" Lewis asked in surprise. "Your gay friend?"

"Yeah. Apparently he works with Kate now and they've become really good friends," Drew said with a nod.

"I like him, he's really friendly," Oswald said with a smile.

Lewis raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously but chose not to say what he was thinking. "I guess it's about time she got a feminine friend. Still, he makes me a little nervous, especially since he told me that my ass looked like a cupcake," he said, pulling a grimace and taking a drink to wash away the memory.

"Well at least he never kissed you," Drew said, shaking his head. "He's kissed me twice."

"That's true," Lewis agreed, breaking out in laughter. "Was he at least a good kisser?" he added jokingly.

Drew glared at him. "Why don't you go kiss him yourself and find out?" he shot back with a shrewd smile. "I'm sure he'd be happy since he seems to like you so much."

"You're just jealous 'cause he liked my ass better than yours," Lewis replied and then paused thoughtfully. "You know, this is kind of creepy that we're arguing about this. About how much a guy liked us. It makes us sound – well – odd."

"You're right," Drew said, laughing nervously. The three of them exchanged awkward looks and then Drew suddenly said, "So, what did you guys think about that Browns game last weekend? It was pretty sad, wasn't it?" Lewis and Oswald took the hint and immediately leapt into the conversation. Lewis was glancing between his two friends with a distracted look, surveying them both slightly apprehensively. Lewis had never questioned his own sexuality, except for that one time back in high school when he'd been really drunk, but he was really starting to wonder about his friends, Oswald especially.

"You alright, buddy?" Oswald asked abruptly, jerking Lewis back into the conversation.

"What? Yeah, fine," he said, waving his hand vaguely. "I was just trying to remember something and got sidetracked."

"You seem to be doing that a lot lately," Oswald commented innocently, his eyes panning over his best friend with a hidden anxiousness. Lewis shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. It was true, he had been getting distracted a lot more than usual, but it was because Kate kept working her way into his thoughts and he couldn't seem to get her to stay out. His promise to himself of forcing away all fantasies of her only seemed to make her appear more often, and the memories of that night kept reemerging to make matters worse.

"It's this new drug they're testing at DrugCo," Lewis said on sudden inspiration. "It's supposed to make you think more, but the side-effect is that the thinking comes at random times and it makes me space out on reality a lot."

"That sounds dangerous," Drew said, staring at Lewis nervously. "You have no control over when these thinking times come? What if they hit you while you're driving or something? When is it supposed to wear off?"

"Should wear off any day now," Lewis said. "And I've been carpooling with Oswald to work so no worries there. Even when I'm driving, I have him there to wake me up."

Drew didn't seem to like that answer very much, but he didn't argue. Of course, Oswald was looking more than a little perturbed as well and Lewis didn't blame him. Sure, Lewis wasn't actually spacing out on reality while driving, but Oswald thought that he might and now Lewis had a feeling he wouldn't be driving very much anymore and if he did he would be kept in constant conversation.

"So what do you think about during these 'thinking spells' anyway?" Oswald suddenly asked, his face lit with childish curiosity.

"All sorts of things," Lewis said, trying to bide time while he came up with something to say. "You know, all kinds of things, whatever the situation reminds me of. Sometimes it science, or literature, or memories of things. Like the other day I was taking care of this dog at DrugCo and it reminded me of that time that Drew and I had Mrs. Louder's dog castrated and then we had to –"

"Do that strip show to raise money to get a new dog," Oswald finished with a bright smile. "Oh yeah, I remember that. That was great."

"Too bad Eugene wasn't there that day, huh Drew," Lewis said with his normal sarcastic smirk returning. "He could have seen you naked. Then maybe he wouldn't be so keen on you."

"Shut up, Big Red," Drew said, shooting a glare at Lewis before returning to his drink.

Lewis returned the look of death over the edge of his mug. "Oh sure, bring that into this," he snapped, shifting uncomfortably at the memory. "Besides, it's not red anymore, I told you that."

Oswald erupted into laughter at the fight. "We sure made quite the impression on those city council members, didn't we?" he said cheerfully. "Gave them a show they'll never forget. And we got to be naked."

"Oswald, you really worry me sometimes," Drew said, patting him on the shoulder. Oswald looked confused and his gaze bounced between Lewis and Drew as if hoping that someone would explain it to him.

"Have you ever wondered if maybe Oswald's brain is scrambled from some sort of freak accident?" Lewis said suddenly, a pensive expression on his face. "You know, like maybe something that happened when we were younger set him off and his brain is slowly deteriorating until he'll become this insane blob of goo." Oswald's eyes widened in terror as he stared at Lewis.

Drew sighed. "Oswald, you are not going to turn into goo," he said firmly and Oswald seemed slightly relieved.

"But think about all the possibilities of it," Lewis said, continuing as if he hadn't heard Drew. "He could use his goo form to possess people, and that way he could take over the world."

Both Oswald and Drew watched their friend with different expressions until finally Drew shook his head, a smile on his face even though his tone as he spoke was exasperated. "Lewis, sometimes you think too much."


	7. Kate's Surprise

"Go, go, go!" Drew, Lewis, and Oswald were all leaning forward, their eyes fixed on the television as they watched the football soaring across the screen. "Yes!" all three of them screamed and leapt up, cheering.

After a moment they settled back down in their respective seats and returned to their beers. "Man, Kate's really missing out on a good game," Drew said, glancing at the empty space on the couch between himself and Oswald.

"No kidding," Lewis said, leaning back into 'his' armchair. No one could say particularly when it had become 'his' chair, but the common theory was that it was the only place he could sit comfortably because of his long legs. Regardless of why, it simply was his place and very rarely did anyone else get to sit there. "Where is she anyway? Not still sick?"

"No, she said she was starting to feel better," Drew answered, his brow furrowing. "She said she would be here."

"Maybe Eugene finally convinced her to go to a doctor," Oswald put in hopefully.

"You've got Eugene helping you convince her now, too?" Lewis asked in amazement. Both of them nodded, seemingly too distracted to come up with a response that included words. Ignoring this, Lewis simply returned to his beer and his eyes flicked to the television screen. "You know, we may actually win this game," he said.

This statement brought Drew and Oswald out of their thoughts and back to the game. "Yeah, let's hope," Oswald said.

"At least then we won't finish the season without a single win," Lewis said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, this has not been a good year for Cleveland," Drew agreed sadly. The other two hummed in agreement and then settled back to watch the rest of the game.

It was nearly halftime when the front door suddenly opened, making all three men look up in confusion, and Kate came in with Eugene close behind her. Kate was rather pale and looked as if she hadn't slept decently in some time, while Eugene was practically trembling with nerves.

"Kate, you made it," Oswald exclaimed excitedly, standing up with his enthusiasm. "And you brought Eugene, too. Hi, Eugene." Eugene gave Oswald a hesitant smile and a small wave. "C'mon, come sit down. Its halftime and the Browns are actually winning."

"Sounds great," Kate said in a falsely cheery voice. "But first I need to talk to Lewis about something."

Lewis looked up at her in shock, his eyes widening slightly. She wanted to talk to him specifically, that could only mean it was something to do with that night. Still, he forced himself to remain calm.

"Look, if this is about that chick who keeps calling your house asking for me, I was going to tell you about that," he said, putting on an innocent face.

"No, this is not about that," Kate said, her expression turning angry and she pointed to the kitchen. Lewis obediently stood up and walked into the kitchen. Kate followed saying, "But while we're on the topic, what chick that keeps calling my house?"

"Oh, so she hasn't called?" Lewis asked hopefully. "That's good." Once they were both in the kitchen he leaned up against the counter and faced her. "So what is this about?" he asked, lowering his voice.

Kate glanced over her shoulder into the living room. Eugene had settled down between Drew and Oswald and they were all pretending to watch the game but she knew that they were actually listening to see if they could catch any of the conversation. It was a rare occasion when Kate wanted to talk to Lewis alone and it usually ended in shouting so they were listening eagerly. "Outside where the little eavesdroppers won't make it their business," she said and ushered him towards the back door.

Lewis perched himself on the edge of the pool table and watched Kate curiously. Her actions were jerky and there was an anxiousness around her that said all too clearly there was something important on her mind. Lewis knew that it had to be about that night, but he had no idea what she was about to say. Kate began pacing on the back step, wringing her hands together nervously. "So are you going to tell me what this is about or not?" Lewis asked, fingering the beer he had brought with him.

"Lewis, could you just shut up and be serious for a moment?" Kate snapped, stopping abruptly and turning to face him.

"Alright, sorry," Lewis said, watching her apprehensively. Whatever it was really had her agitated. He lifted his beer and took a drink to steady himself but Kate decided to speak while he was in mid-drink.

"I'm pregnant," Kate said. Lewis promptly spat out his beer and Kate stepped back to avoid the spray. When Lewis lifted a hand to wipe his mouth Kate approached him again.

"You're pregnant?" Lewis asked breathlessly. Kate nodded, gazing up at him in an almost timid way. "I – I don't know what to say," Lewis admitted. "Why did you want to tell me alone though? And first? I'm assuming the others don't know."

"No, they don't," Kate agreed, giving Lewis an odd look. "Well, Eugene does but that's because he's the one who drove me to the doctor's. But I thought it was obvious why I was telling you."

"Well honestly, it's not," Lewis replied, raising en eyebrow as he looked at her.

"Lewis," Kate said, half-exasperated and half-terrified, "You're the father."

Lewis stared at her in shock for several long moments, trying to comprehend what she'd just said. Finally Kate slapped his arm and that jerked him back. "That's not possible," Lewis said with a tone of finality.

"It's the truth though, Lewis," Kate said, almost pleading. "It has to be. You're the last person I've slept with, the time-frame is right. And I guess if we were that drunk then we might not have remembered protection."

Lewis almost laughed as he felt a sense of relief course into him. "No, Kate, I really can't be the father," he repeated. "We never slept together."

There were a lot of responses that Lewis had been ready for, but anger had not been the one he'd expected. Kate scowled at him and suddenly slapped him across the face. "Lewis, don't lie to me just to save your own ass," she said, rage tinting her words. "I'm not an idiot. I can put the clues together."

Lewis lifted a hand to protect himself, wincing since she had hit the left side of his face where the bruise had finally started to fade. "No, Kate, I mean it," he said, keeping his hand up just in case she attacked him again. "We didn't. We were going to, but we didn't. Apparently you're too drunk to remember."

Kate still looked angry but there was a hint of doubt in her eyes. "I woke up naked in your bed," she said bluntly. "You've always wanted to sleep with me, I know it. We were drunk, both of us were depressed from relationships ending, and then the next morning I wake up naked in your bed, and you're trying to tell me that we didn't sleep together."

"Exactly," Lewis said and ducked aside as Kate's hand came toward him again. He jumped sideways off of the pool table and backed away from her slightly. "Let me explain before you decapitate me, would you?"

"Then you better explain fast, and it better be good," Kate said, staring at him angrily.

"We were going to," Lewis said hastily, knowing that look in her eyes. "We had gone upstairs to my apartment and when we were in my room we started undressing. You were really, really drunk and I guess you were trying to be sexy and started doing a little dance while you were undressing. Which _was_ kind of sexy, by the way." Kate started towards him and Lewis backed around to the other side of the pool table. "Alright, sorry, forget I said that. Anyway, in the middle of your dance you just passed out. I knew that it was the alcohol, so I put you in the bed. I wasn't about to sleep with you while you were unconscious. Necrophilia isn't my thing. Then I redressed and I slept out in the living room all night."

Kate paused in her steps, glaring across the table at Lewis. She couldn't believe what he was telling her but then again she had no proof otherwise. As she looked at him there seemed to be a rare sincerity in his eyes. "You're telling the truth?" she asked.

Lewis nodded slowly. "I am," he said. "I wish I could say I'd slept with you, but I didn't."

Kate met his gaze and could tell that he wasn't lying. She gave a heavy sigh and sagged against the edge of the pool table, letting her head drop into her hands. Lewis came around the table carefully and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder, not exactly certain of what to do. Kate looked up at him and Lewis was surprised to see that her eyes were red. "You know what this means, don't you?" she asked in a defeated voice.

"That I'll never actually get to sleep with you?" Lewis suggested, at a loss for her real meaning.

Kate gave a watery laugh. "That, too," she said and Lewis emitted one quiet laugh. "But about the baby. It means that it must be Robert's baby." Lewis froze, thinking over what this meant.

"What are you going to do?" Lewis asked. "Are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know," Kate said and her voice was so pitiful that Lewis wanted nothing more than to hug her and comfort her, but his natural instinct warned him against it. He compensated by rubbing her back with the hand that had been on her shoulder. "I don't know what to do. I'm not ready to be a mom, Lewis. And I don't know if Robert will want the baby either and even if he does I don't know if I could trust him to take care of a child. Let's rephrase that, I wouldn't trust him to take care of a child."

"You can always give it up for adoption," Lewis suggested but from the look on Kate's face he had a feeling she wouldn't go for that idea either.

"I don't know," Kate said again, her voice thick with uneasiness. "I suppose I could, I just don't know if I could live with the idea that I just gave my child away."

"Lots of kids turn out fine when they are put up for adoption," Lewis said, trying to keep her calm. "They end up in nice families and have good lives." Kate nodded but she still looked hesitant.

"What if there's something wrong with the baby?" she said suddenly and she looked up at Lewis with horror in her eyes. "I drank a lot of beer that night, and if it's Robert's baby than I was already pregnant at the time. And I've had something to drink nearly every day since." Lewis met her gaze and truly was at a loss for words.

"I don't know what to tell you, Kate," he said honestly, his eyes flicking around the backyard thoughtfully. "I guess you could always have an abortion."

Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, Kate was shaking her head. "No, I know I couldn't do that," she said firmly.

"Then I don't know what else to say," Lewis said with a sigh. He turned around and sat down on the pool table and soon after Kate slipped up next to him. Both of them stared at the side of Drew's garage in silence for a while. "I'm really not the kind of person who can give you advice on this sort of thing," Lewis added with a short laugh.

"I know," she replied quietly.

"You going to tell Drew and Oswald?" Kate looked at him with an expression of mixed fear and reluctance. "You know you're going to have to tell them sometime. You aren't going to be able to hide it for long so they're going to find out. They'd rather hear it from you then find out when you start to look like a watermelon." Lewis flinched back as Kate slapped his arm.

"Thank you," she said indignantly.

"Well, it's true," Lewis pointed out. "So are you going to tell them or wait until all hell breaks loose and try and cover your ass then?"

"You are so helpful," Kate said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Now I remember why I never come to you for advice. You're an ass." Lewis simply smiled in response. Kate sighed and glanced through the kitchen window to where she could vaguely see the three other men sitting on the living room couch. "I suppose I'll have to tell them. But how do I tell them something like this?"

"I don't know, I've never told someone that I was pregnant," Lewis said matter-of-factly. He was rewarded for his comment by another slap to the arm. "Well why do you keep asking me these questions that you know I have no good answer to?"

"Because I keep hoping that this supposed genius IQ that you have will actually kick in and serve some good," Kate replied.

Lewis gave her his characteristic goofy grin. "I'm flattered, but pregnancy is not my area of expertise, believe it or not." Kate glanced up at him and couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

They sat in silence again, but this time it seemed companionable and was lacking in the usual tension. Lewis' brow furrowed as this abnormality struck him and he looked down at Kate with confusion on his face. "This is weird, but we're actually having a casual, friendly moment," he said in an almost awe-struck voice.

Kate met his gaze with an equal amount of surprise. It was true, there was no denying it. For the first time in years they were actually getting along like close friends and there was no awkwardness between them. "You're right," she said in response, practically breathless with the realization. "It is weird."

"I like it though," Lewis admitted. When what he'd said sank in, he hastily tore his gaze away from Kate and looked over at the garage again, not wanting her to see the embarrassment that was beginning to take over his features. "Hey Kate, when you thought that we actually had slept together, what did you think of it? Like were you upset about it or were you okay with the idea?"

"I'm not really sure," she said slowly, thinking over her answer as she tried to phrase it right. "I think part of me was upset while part of me didn't mind so much. Mostly I just would have been more comfortable if I had remembered some of what had happened." Lewis nodded, lost in thought. "What did we talk about that night? I remember talking to you, but I can't remember much of what we talked about. We talked about how you broke up with your girlfriend, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Lewis said, grimacing slightly. He leaned back to retrieve the beer that he had left sitting on the other side of the pool table and took a drink before continuing. "We talked about Sandra, and about Robert, but mostly about how we are both people who will never find our one right person. How we are just used to fill time for other people while they are searching, but we can't seem to find that special person ourselves."

"I told you that?" Kate asked in surprise. Lewis nodded, glancing at her as he was a little confused by her reaction. "It's just, I've never told anyone that before. I've always thought that maybe there wasn't someone for me, but I never told anyone that because I knew that they would just try to tell me otherwise."

"Well you were drunk," Lewis said with a shrug. "Really drunk. That usually makes people talk a lot more than they mean, too." Kate nodded as a quiet thoughtfulness slipped between them. "Or maybe it was just that you didn't feel uncomfortable telling me because you knew that I wouldn't argue with you about it. You found someone cynical enough to not try and convince you that you were wrong." Kate looked up at Lewis, a strange look of contemplation in her eyes. "What?" Lewis asked, feeling a little awkward under her surveillance.

Kate laughed slightly at his reaction. "Nothing, I think I just saw that high IQ finally come out," she said with a sly smile. Lewis grinned and nudged her arm with his elbow, making her laugh again. "But really, that was a good answer. I think you were probably right. Of course I was so drunk I couldn't begin to tell you what I was thinking that night. I mean I agreed to have sex with you, I was clearly out of my mind."

"Actually the sex was your idea," Lewis put in and Kate choked on her breath as she looked back up at him hastily. Lewis laughed at her response and then nodded. "It was, honestly. I was too distracted to even bother suggesting it, but you suggested and I figured why not give it a shot while you were actually willing. I still never got to, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction."

"It was my idea?" Kate asked faintly. Lewis nodded, his mouth full of beer once again. "God, remind me to never drink that much again."

"Why are you so against sleeping with me?" Lewis asked suddenly, startling Kate. "I asked you this that night, but I want a sober answer. You slept with Drew, you slept with Oswald, what is it about me that makes me so different?"

There was a long moment of silence as Kate thought this over. Lewis could tell by the way her nose was wrinkled that she was thinking very hard on it, too. "You were always too willing," she answered finally. "You always seemed to offer to have sex, but it was never anything more than that with you. I had relationships with Drew and Oswald while I was sleeping with them, it just seemed like all you wanted was a fling. I just wasn't interested in that."

Lewis nodded thoughtfully, sipping at his beer in silence. Kate stared at him expectantly but he made no motion to reply. "Is that it? You aren't going to say anything?" she asked in exasperation.

"Nope," Lewis responded, frowning as he realized that his beer was empty. "I wasn't asked any questions to answer. And before we get into playing interrogator, we should probably get back in before Eugene gets too interested in that football game and becomes masculine. Then you'll have lost your girlfriend." Kate opened her mouth but Lewis spoke over her. "Besides, I think you have two friends who need to know a little announcement."

Kate sighed and dropped her head in defeat. "I know," she said and she slid down off the table.

Lewis stood up as well and began shaking his legs, desperately trying to warm them. "I'm glad you agree, because I am freezing," he said, his usual demeanor instantly returning. "Winter may be dying away but it is still way too cold to be sitting out here for long." Kate chuckled but didn't say anything as she walked back into Drew's house with Lewis tailing her. Lewis stopped at the refrigerator long enough to grab himself another beer and by the time he had gotten into the living room Kate had already gotten the men's attention.

Drew and Oswald were looking up at Kate with mixtures of worry and interest, but Eugene seemed unphased except for the fact that he was wringing his hands in his lap. Eugene kept shooting short glances at Lewis, but Lewis kept his face completely impassive as he dropped into his armchair and sipped his beer.

"What is it, Kate?" Drew asked anxiously, rising to his feet with the coursing nerves. Lewis caught Eugene leaning back slightly and glancing at Drew's ass but tried hard to refrain his laughter because of the seriousness of the moment.

"I – I'm pregnant," Kate said, her voice far more timid than when she had boldly proclaimed it to Lewis. She couldn't seem to meet her friends' eyes and she stared down at the carpet. There was a stunned silence in the room and then Drew and Oswald began questioning at the same time, walking around the coffee table to stand on either side of her.

"What?" "How?" "Who?" "When?"

"Stop it, would you?" Kate exclaimed, clearly overwhelmed by the tirade of questions. "I'm about two months, but I don't know how it happened." The two bewildered men exchanged glances and then Drew voiced the question Kate had been bracing herself for.

"Who's the father?" he asked in a tremulous voice.

Kate shuffled hesitantly and Lewis felt both her gaze and Eugene's flicker to him briefly before darting away. Kate took a deep breath but once again her answer caught Lewis off guard. "I don't actually know," she said, still not able to look at either Drew or Oswald. As the two men began to murmur in conversation, Kate glanced at Lewis again. Even if Lewis had thought about saying anything, which he hadn't planned on anyway, the desperate and pleading look in Kate's large brown eyes would have silenced him without battle.


	8. Allison Lee Michelangelo O'Brien

Lewis stared down at the image in his hands in amazement, his green eyes panning over the details that were visible in the strange bluish photograph. "This is the baby?" he asked, his disbelief evident. Kate perched herself on the arm of his armchair and nodded.

"Yeah, you can see her right there," she said with a smile. "There's her head, and her body comes around like this. You can even see her little fingers and toes if you look close there. This isn't the best picture, Drew has a clearer one."

"This is amazing," Drew said in an awe-struck tone, gazing down at a similar photograph in his hands. "It's hard to believe that these are pictures of what's inside of you. A little baby girl." Kate laughed and nodded in agreement, heaving herself off of the arm of the chair and moving over to sit between Drew and Oswald on the couch. Eugene, who was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Oswald, leaned over slightly to join in looking at the pictures.

Lewis set the photograph he'd been holding on the coffee table and lounged back in his chair once again, watching the scene and feeling oddly detached. For someone who had not wanted to have a child, Kate had truly blossomed throughout her pregnancy and at the moment she seemed almost giddy. She was now six months along and the prominent bulge in her stomach displayed this fact quite clearly. He had often wondered if Kate would ever have children and imagined the way she would look, but as he gazed at her now he felt that the look almost suited her. Something about it just seemed to fit into place. Seeing Kate so happy about something was also a relief, because she so rarely looked as happy as she did in this moment.

"So did you ever find out who the father was?" Oswald asked conversationally. Kate just put on the same guarded expression she did every time and shook her head.

"Any idea what you're going to name her?" Lewis chipped in, easily turning the subject away from the baby's father just like he always did. Kate turned to him with a smile, but there was a familiar look of gratitude in her eyes that he had grown accustomed to seeing over the past few months as he continually covered for her.

"I'm debating over a few names," she admitted. "I can't decide just yet though."

"You should name her Allison, after Drew," Oswald said with a broad smile.

"Oh shut up, Oswald," Drew said as his entire face turned red with embarrassment.

"That was actually one of the names I was thinking about," Kate said with a shy smile.

"There's an idea, give her the middle names of your three best friends," Lewis said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice as he fought his laughter. "You can name her Allison Lee Michelangelo O'Brien."

All of them broke up in laughter at the suggestion. "Right," Kate said. "Maybe if I want her to spend her life as a punching bag social outcast."

"Nah, then you'd have to name her Oswald Lee Harvey," Drew put in.

"Name her after me?" Oswald said with wide eyes before he realized what Drew had meant. "Hey, wait a second."

"Don't worry about it, Oswald," Lewis said, still laughing. "You still get more action than Drew, just remember that. Not that it's hard to get more than Drew." Drew made a face at Lewis but didn't even bother to retort this time. Drew knew that he was probably actually having more sex than either Oswald or Lewis now that he was finally dating another girl. Lewis hadn't been seen with a date since the break up with Sandra, and Oswald hadn't been seen with a girl in probably longer than that.

"Oh, c'mon guys," Kate said, patting both Drew and Oswald on the back lightly. "This is supposed to be a happy occasion, let's not talk about your disturbing sex lives."

"Oh right, Kate doesn't want to be reminded of how she ended up like this," Lewis said with a meaningful nod.

"Lewis, you just shut up," Kate said in exasperation. They all lapsed into laughter again, passing the photographs amongst each other again and marveling at the enormity of what they meant.

"You know what, this is a special occasion and this calls for a celebration," Drew said suddenly, looking around at the others.

"Drew, no Warsaw, you know I'm not suppose to drink," Kate sighed.

"Not the Warsaw," Drew said. "I say we all go out for a nice dinner. It's not every day that one of us is going to be a parent. So we'll all go out to celebrate Allison Lee Michelangelo O'Brien." Laughter followed this statement and everyone eagerly agreed. "So, where does Allison Lee Michelangelo O'Brien say we should go?"

Kate chuckled and her hand unconsciously lifted to rest on her stomach, as she always did whenever the baby was mentioned. "Probably somewhere Italian, that seems to be her favorite," she said. "Or at least she lets me eat it in peace more than other kinds."

"Antonio's it is," Drew concluded, standing up. The other's murmured in agreement and they all filed out and into Drew's car. Lewis was fortunate enough to get the passenger seat because of his long legs, but he was still cramped. Kate, Eugene, and Oswald slid into the back seat with Eugene in the middle. The ride was enjoyable and full of excited chatter, making everyone's spirits even higher by the time they had reached the restaurant.

The dinner passed in a haze of cheerful conversation and excellent food. Kate's excitement was contagious and even Lewis, who had been slightly withdrawn for the last few months, was enjoying himself. Still, as was his nature, he observed his friends inconspicuously while they socialized. Kate was practically bubbling with enthusiasm, a wild reversal from her first panic about being pregnant, and the worries about the baby's parentage seemed to have left her mind. Drew was behaving almost normally, except maybe being a little overly-gentlemanly towards Kate. Lewis knew that Drew was trying to help Kate through this life change, likely with the underlying hope that Kate would come back to him. It was practically common sense that Drew would leave his current girlfriend in a heartbeat if Kate ever wanted him back.

Oswald was behaving just like typical Oswald, with his childish naivety. He seemed completely oblivious to everything beyond their table, wrapped up in the conversation and slurping his spaghetti noodles. Eugene sat close to him and couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of Oswald for very long, smiling at Oswald's youthful antics. Eugene had been getting gradually closer to Oswald as the months had passed, the pair getting along very comfortably. Oswald didn't seem to find anything odd about the situation, but Lewis found it a little strange. He knew Eugene's sexual orientation and he had begun to wonder if perhaps he was attracted to Oswald.

Shaking this thought from his head, mostly because he didn't want to consider the possibility that the man he had lived with for all these years might be gay, Lewis returned to his meal. He found it difficult to keep his attention on anything but Kate as the dinner continued. There was something so stunning about the sheer happiness that she carried and it seemed to make her ten times prettier. Sure, Lewis had always thought that Kate was pretty but now, in her moments of solid pleasure, she looked angelic. He found himself finally understanding what people said about how a pregnant woman 'glowed.'

Finally, nearly two hours after they had arrived, the group decided that it was time to leave. They each paid their parts of the bill, although since it was a celebration for Kate the men split her portion between themselves. Then they all headed for the door in a talkative cluster.

"Uh oh," Lewis breathed suddenly, spotting someone who was waiting to be seated, although too late for the group to avoid being seen by him. The man turned to glance at the noisy group and his eyes widened slightly.

"Well, well, Kate O'Brien," the man said with a small sneer. The entire group froze and turned their attention to the owner of the voice. Kate's broad smile instantly fled.

"Robert," she replied curtly.

Robert approached their group, a narrow woman on his arm surveying them all with a blended look of distaste and pride. Robert's eyes panned Kate up and down, and then his grin twisted wickedly. "Pregnant, huh? I knew your slutty ways would land you in trouble someday," he said.

All four men surrounding Kate stepped forward angrily, fists clenching at their sides. Kate gestured at them to stop and glared at Robert with hatred. "_My _slutty ways? Does your girlfriend know about all your little escapades with your secretary?" she asked. She grinned triumphantly when the woman glanced up at Robert with confusion and doubt in her gaze.

Robert narrowed his eyes but gave no response to the question. "So did you tell the man-whore that he gave you a child? Or were there just so many men you've slept with that you can't remember which one caused this?" he asked darkly. Then his eyes narrowed even more and he asked, "It's not mine, is it?"

Kate's face blanched slightly and she seemed to be fumbling to find the right words.

"It's mine."

Everyone present gasped and looked up at Lewis in surprise. Lewis kept his expression solid, even though his heart was racing. He ignored the stunned looks on his friends' faces and draped an arm over Kate's shoulder protectively. "The child is mine," he repeated. "And I would really prefer that you not talk to Kate like that. Understood?"

Robert looked angry at the command, but said nothing. He was not fool enough to pick a fight with someone who stood a full head taller than him. The two men glared daggers at each other for several long, tense moments before the host announced Robert's name as next to be seated. Robert gave Lewis and Kate one last look of hatred before he turned away without a word and stalked off, his girlfriend following fearfully in his wake.

Lewis let out a breath of relief and glanced anxiously at his friends. All four of them were staring at him in shock; Kate and Eugene surprised by his lie and Drew and Oswald clearly wondering if what Lewis had said could be true. Still, none of them said anything and Lewis started to feel increasingly awkward under their unwavering stares.

"Maybe we should go," he suggested, and to his relief they all turned and headed for the doors once again. He walked silently at the back of the group, his heart still pounding rapidly in his chest and making him feel a bit queasy. The car ride home was just as awkward, with hardly more than a few words of speech passing between the passengers. Lewis didn't say a thing, staring out of the window silently to avoid everyone's attention. Kate only spoke to answer Drew's question of "Are you okay?"

When they had gotten back to Drew's house everyone hesitated on what exactly to do. Eugene muttered something about needing to get home and the rest of them immediately latched onto the idea, claiming to need sleep before work and other various excuses. Oswald and Lewis headed towards Oswald's van while Kate and Eugene walked to Eugene's little car. Drew called a good-night to everyone before he stepped into his house. Lewis was about to climb into the van when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning, he saw Kate standing there with a nervous smile on her face.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Lewis simply smiled and gave a small nod in return. Kate hugged him quickly, surprising Lewis, and then hurried over to Eugene's car. Slightly dazed, Lewis climbed into the passenger seat of the van. Oswald glanced at him suspiciously but Lewis was too distracted to notice, and seeing this Oswald pulled the van away from the curb and headed towards the Warsaw, shooting furtive looks at his best friend the entire way. They got back to the bar and walked up to their apartment in silence still. Both went to bed with a brief "good-night" the only thing said between them.


	9. Confrontations

"What are you doing up so early?"

Lewis jumped at the voice and banged his head against the inside of the refrigerator. Grumbling and clutching his head, Lewis backed out of the fridge and straightened up to find Oswald watching him with surprise. "You seem surprised," he commented, still rubbing his head.

"I am," Oswald replied, grinning faintly. "You haven't been up this early since they switched you to the night shift." Oswald himself was half-dressed for work with traces of sleep still in his eyes.

"Yeah, I know," Lewis said. "I didn't sleep much last night. Just thought I'd find some breakfast."

"It was a pretty crazy night last night, wasn't it?" Oswald said, crossing his arms and leaning against the counter. There was an almost fake smile on his face and he seemed to be fighting against a scowl.

"No kidding," Lewis agreed awkwardly, returning to rummaging through the fridge to escape Oswald's glare. "I'm making eggs, you want some?"

"Sure." Lewis heard Oswald walk back into his bedroom, presumably to finish getting ready for work. Lewis pulled out the egg carton and set to work. Ten minutes later he set two plates of eggs on the table at the booth, one sunny-side down and the other scrambled. "Oz, breakfast," Lewis said as he sat down before eagerly digging into the fried eggs.

Oswald emerged from his room, now fully dressed, and sat down across from Lewis. "Mm, just like I like 'em," he said with a smile as he pulled the plate of scrambled eggs towards him. There was a lull as they both ate their breakfasts in silence, until after a while Oswald's hand faltered and he glanced over at Lewis. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Lewis looked up in confusion. Hastily swallowing his mouthful of egg, he asked, "What?"

"About you and Kate," Oswald said, his tone slightly hurt. "Why didn't you tell us that it was your baby? All this time Kate's been saying she didn't know who the father was, and you didn't say anything either. In fact, you kept changing the topic every time it came up. Why did you keep it a secret?"

Lewis hesitated to answer, not exactly sure of what to say. He knew Kate didn't want the word to get out that Robert was the father, but he didn't like the way that Oswald was looking at him with obvious hurt. Torn between which friend to protect, Lewis twirled his fork between his fingers nervously.

Oswald made a small noise of annoyance and set down his fork. "When did it happen? Or has it been happening a long time?" he asked. "It was that night that Kate broke up with Robert, wasn't it? You've been acting strange since then. I didn't think about it much, but this is why you've been weird, isn't it? You've been dating Kate behind my back." Lewis opened his mouth immediately to argue this but Oswald charged on without letting him speak. "You didn't have to sneak around about it. Why didn't you just tell me? Yeah, I still love Kate, but I wouldn't have been against it if you had said something. Why don't you ever trust me to act right? You're my best friend."

This was the breaking point for Lewis. He wanted to protect Kate and help her, but he couldn't lose his best friend over it. Oswald was the one constant thing in his life and he was not going to risk that for anything. Kate would just have to understand that.

"Oswald, the baby isn't mine," Lewis said in a loud voice so Oswald couldn't talk over him. Oswald froze in mid-statement, his mouth slightly open as he stared at Lewis. Lewis sighed and dropped his fork onto his plate. "It was a lie; I just said it to help Kate."

"How did it help Kate any?" Oswald asked suspiciously.

"The way Robert was interrogating her was upsetting her," Lewis said. "I told him the baby was mine so he would lay off of her. It was nothing more than that."

Oswald was quiet for a minute, staring down at his plate thoughtfully. "So why did she come to you first when she found out she was pregnant? That day she came in and wanted to speak to you alone before she came and told us. Was it about her being pregnant?"

Lewis nodded. "But it was only because she wanted to ask for my advice on how to tell you both," he said, spilling out the lie he had been concocting in case they ever asked him this question. "You know, she's nearly married both of you and she knows you both still care about her. She couldn't figure out how to tell you guys that she was pregnant with some unknown man's baby. So she asked me, since I'm sort of the impartial one. She was afraid if she told you the wrong way that you'd both be angry with her."

"Oh," Oswald said quietly, clearly mollified by the answer. There was a slightly awkward tension and Oswald used his fork to prod the remnants of his eggs around his plate. "You two really have been friendlier lately," he added, still speaking timidly. "Normally you're at each other's throats all of the time, but now you seem to get along better."

"It's amazing what happens when you help somebody out a bit," Lewis said with a laugh. "I quit being an ass for a few minutes to help her out and suddenly she doesn't hate me."

Oswald chuckled nervously. "Funny how that happens," he murmured and continued to push his eggs around the plate. "You like her though, don't you?"

The question caught Lewis off guard and he stared at Oswald in surprise for a moment. "Well sure, I've always liked her," he said with a shrug. "I have to like her on some level to be able to be around her so much."

"You know what I meant," Oswald said, torn between exasperation and amusement as he glanced up at his best friend. Lewis sighed heavily, leaning back into the seat and folding his arms over his chest.

"I don't know," was his answer. "I think Kate is one of those people that you can't stand most of the time but there are those rare moments when you can't get enough of her, and that's why people stick around. For those times when she's the greatest person in the world."

"Yeah," Oswald agreed. There was a slightly dazed expression on his face as he bobbed his head slowly. "Yeah, that really is how she is, now that I think about it." There was another moment of silence and Oswald returning to toying with his breakfast. Finally he looked up at Lewis and said, "Hey, I'm sorry I got so mad. It was really stupid."

"Don't worry about it," Lewis said, shrugging again. "I should have told you straight off. I really didn't expect you and Drew to believe it."

"I suppose it is kind of funny," Oswald said, chuckling. "The thought of you and Kate together."

"Yeah," Lewis agreed, trying to keep the tone of his voice steady. "Real funny."

Oswald laughed again, not noticing the strain in his friend's voice. He glanced at his watch and flinched. "Damn, I'm going to be late if I don't hurry," he murmured. "See you later. You still going to come around Drew's office for lunch."

"Of course," Lewis replied as Oswald grabbed his keys and headed out of the door. Once the door had closed, Lewis sighed and relaxed into the booth seat. His breakfast lay forgotten on the table as he stared vacantly at the far wall. The confrontation with Oswald had set his brain into motion again and he tried to make sense of the thoughts whirring through his mind.

What was it about the idea of him and Kate together that amused everyone so much? Lewis could not figure this out and it bothered him. Sure, he'd given up on the possibility of ever being with Kate, but he wanted to at least have an excuse for it.

_It's because you're an in-between_, his mind said to him. _They all want what's best for Kate; they don't want to see her stuck with a dead end like you. You could never give someone a forever, which is what Kate wants. She deserves more than you could ever give her._

Sobered by this thought, Lewis stood up and gathered the morning dishes. He moved the clock out of the sink and washed up all of the dishes simply to have something to preoccupy himself. Even after he had finished, he just stood at the sink for a few minutes, too caught up in his thoughts to worry about moving.

Finally his hip began to ache from where it was leaning against the counter, bringing him back to reality. He glanced at the clock, which was now resting on top of the toaster, and was shocked to see that he had been standing there for more than half an hour. Determined to distract himself, Lewis grabbed a beer from the fridge and retreated to his bedroom.

He perched himself on the edge of the bed and leaned down, sliding a cardboard box from beneath it. The inside of the box was full of books, with one particular book resting on top of them all. Lewis picked this book up and pushed the box back under the bed with his foot before scooting back to recline himself against the wall. He stretched his legs out in front of him and opened the book, setting aside the aging Cleveland Indians' ticket that he used as a bookmark. He found his spot on the page and within seconds he was completely lost in the story.

Time passed without his knowledge as his eyes flew back and forth across the lines of print. Lewis moved very little, only to turn the pages and occasionally take a swallow of beer. He was so caught up in the tale that the sounds of the empty apartment were lost on him. A slightly dazed smile crinkled the corners of his mouth as he allowed himself to be submerged in the story.

"Lewis?"

The voice startled him and he instinctively snapped the book shut but then let out a yelp and dropped it, having crushed his thumb between the pages. Trying to act casual, he shifted his legs so they were over the book and then looked up innocently. Kate was standing in the doorway to his bedroom, looking at him with an expression torn between confusion and amazement.

"Oh, hey Kate," Lewis said, trying to keep his smile steady. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," Kate replied, still looking suspicious. "The door was unlocked so I just came in. Were you – were you reading?"

Lewis shifted uncomfortably. "That's kind, just walk into someone's house," he remarked sarcastically.

"Well you didn't answer when I knocked," Kate shot back. She came in and sat down on the edge of the bed, and her curious hand reached around his legs to grab the book. "You were reading," she said in shock, examining the cover. "I didn't think you liked to read." Lewis simply shrugged. Kate glanced up at him and laughed. "Why are you acting so ashamed?"

"It's nothing," Lewis said, extending his hand for the book but Kate didn't give it to him.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," she read off the binding before she handed the book back to Lewis. He scanned through it until he found his page and then stuck the Indians' ticket into it. "You know, you've always reminded me a bit of Tom Sawyer."

Lewis glanced at her, one eyebrow cocked and an amused smile on his face. "Oh really," he said, and it was clear by the tone of his voice that he was trying not to laugh. "So what did you want to talk about, or was that just a cover and you're actually here to find out all my secret hobbies?"

"Do you crochet, too?" Kate asked in mock interest. Lewis rolled his eyes and nudged her with his knee.

"If you must know, I actually read a lot," he said, a faint tint coloring his cheeks. "I love sitting around and getting drunk as much as anyone, but sometimes I need something better to entertain myself."

"Ah, that IQ of yours needs more than just chicks and booze," Kate commented with a sly smile. "But why do you hide it? There's really no reason to be so secretive."

"I knew you guys wouldn't let it drop if you found out I was into reading," Lewis said with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't want to make Oswald feel weird. You know he can't read very well. He's perfectly content with both of us being morons together."

Kate looked at Lewis with a sort of revering surprise. "Wow, Lewis Kiniski showing consideration," she said in an almost awe-struck voice. "Now this is a moment to treasure. You don't see that very often." Lewis pulled a face and pushed her with his knee again.

"So are you going to tell me why you came over?" Lewis asked, pretending to be impatient.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did last night," she admitted, moving herself farther onto the bed and shifting so she was more comfortable. "For standing up to Robert like that. I didn't really get to thank you last night, with everything that was going on."

"It was nothing," he said, shrugging again. "I never liked the guy anyway." He glanced at Kate awkwardly and then said, "I had to tell Oswald the truth."

"You what?" Kate asked in a blend of surprise and anger.

"Not everything," Lewis said hastily, lifting his hands to defend himself just in case she lashed out. "Just that it's not really my kid. I had to, he was furious with me. He's my best friend and he thought I was going behind his back with his ex-fiancée. What was I supposed to do?"

Kate stared at him for a moment in shock and then laughed. Lewis blinked, surprised by the strange reaction. "You mean he believed it?" she asked finally. "He actually thought that the baby was yours?"

"Apparently," Lewis replied. "Why were you so upset at first?"

"Oh, I thought you meant that you had told him that Robert was the father," she said.

"No, I didn't tell him that," Lewis quickly corrected. "I told him you really didn't know who the father was, and that I had just stepped in to get him to leave you alone. I didn't really think he'd have believed it but apparently I'm a better actor than I thought."

"Don't flatter yourself too much," Kate said with a smile. "Oswald is pretty gullible."

"Yeah, well let's just hope Drew wasn't gullible enough to fall for it, too," Lewis said, ignoring the insult. "He'll be a lot harder to convince than Oswald."

"That's true," Kate said, slightly sobered by the idea. "He did seem a little distant last night. I hope he didn't believe it."

"Well, Oswald pointed out to me that we do make a pretty convincing case against ourselves," he said. "The timeframe matches up almost perfectly with the night that you broke up with Robert, and we were left alone together that night. The day you found out you were pregnant you wanted to talk to me first, of course because you thought I was the father, but that's not the point. We've also been behaving more civilly towards each other since you found out you were pregnant. He noticed that I changed the topic whenever the baby's father came up, too. I guess my announcement that I was the father just sort of sealed the deal."

"Wow, I never realized," Kate commented thoughtfully. "Oswald's a lot more perceptive than we give him credit for, isn't he?"

"Yeah, surprised me, too," Lewis laughed. "He seems to do that sometimes though. He's good at noticing the things that most people wouldn't. Part of his uniqueness, I guess."

"That's true," Kate agreed and they slipped into silence for a moment, both of them pondering different things. Suddenly Kate spoke up again, "You know, sometimes I wish the baby _was_ yours."

Lewis gaped at her, completely stunned by this proclamation. What could she possibly be hinting at with this statement? He found it nearly impossible to string together a reply and the only thing that escaped him was a confused, "What?"

"This would be easier if you were the father," she said. "At least then I wouldn't have to worry about the real father finding out and fighting for custody. I don't want him to have her; I don't think he would treat her right. And it's just one more thing that keeps me tied to him. If the baby was yours I would be free of him."

"In that case, I wish she was mine, too," Lewis said sympathetically. "Although, I don't know if I can have kids, to be honest. Most people who've worked at DrugCo as long as I have can't have kids."

"Yes, well I'm sure standing in front of a radiation vent to think does nothing to help that," Kate said, laughing and shaking her head. Lewis tilted his head in confusion, making Kate laugh harder. "Never mind."

"I feel like I've become the butt of the jokes now," Lewis remarked, that sly, lopsided smile on his face again as he surveyed Kate curiously.

"That's because you have," Kate said, patting his leg teasingly. Lewis felt his stomach leap but tried to hide it. "Well it's nearly two now," she said, slipping her cell phone from her pocket and glancing at the LCD screen. "What do you say we go over to meet the others for lunch?"

"Sounds good," Lewis said. He stood up and helped Kate to her feet before hunting down his shoes and slipping into them. Something on top of the dresser caught his attention as he turned, and he grabbed it and tossed it to Kate, saying, "I think this is yours."

Kate caught it and glanced down at what she was holding. "My sock," she exclaimed. "I was wondering where it was." They exchanged glances and both began laughing.


	10. Collide

There was a stunned silence in Drew's backyard as every stared at Eugene in amazement. Eugene smiled proudly, leaning on his cue stick and returning their stares confidently. Having spent so much time around them had allowed him to relax and he had become a comfortable part of their group. They had all been celebrating the arrival of warmer weather with the first pool game of the season, and Eugene had just won almost effortlessly.

"That was amazing," Oswald said, the first to regain his speech.

"Yeah, you're probably better than Kate," Drew said in awe, receiving an elbow to the ribs from Kate for this comment. "Ow, hey, well it's true. It's too bad you can't play very well right now."

"Yeah, well this stomach sort of gets in the way," Kate retorted, resting her hand on her enormous abdomen. She was now only a month and a half from her due date.

"Doesn't stop Drew," Lewis pointed out. "He seems to have found a way to play around his stomach." Drew glared at him and everyone else laughed.

"Drew doesn't win games though," Kate put in.

"Hey," Drew protested. "I thought we were talking about Eugene, not about me." He turned back to Eugene. "Where did you learn to play like that?"

Eugene shrugged. "I just play every once in a while," he said casually. "The random night when I want to hit a bar or something. I've just always been fairly good at it."

"Fairly good?" Lewis asked with raised eyebrows. "I hate to tell you, but you are a bit more than 'fairly good.'"

"You are a pool _god_," Oswald said, grasping Eugene's shoulder and giving it a little shake. Eugene's smile grew but he simply shrugged again. Lewis tried to shake away the image; he was, by this time, quite confident that Eugene was attracted to Oswald but he wasn't quite sure how Oswald felt about it or if he even noticed.

"He's right," Drew agreed. "I'm never playing against you again if there's money involved." He threw his twenty dollar bill onto the pool table and Eugene grabbed it up with a grin, tucking it into his pocket.

"How do you think I paid my rent when I was out of work?" Eugene said by way of reply. "Some of those temp jobs didn't pay me enough, so I made a little extra playing pool on the weekends."

"I thought you said you didn't play much," Kate said, smirking at him.

"Only on the occasional weekend when the paycheck was too short," Eugene replied, his characteristic mischievous grin returning. "I was good at it before I started doing it for money. Like I said, I've always been good at it. Natural gift, I suppose."

Drew drained the rest of his beer and shook his head. "If I was as good at pool as you I'd quit my job and just play for a living," he said. "Wonder if they have a professional circuit for it." Everyone shrugged, murmuring that they didn't know the answer. "Well, anyone up for another game?"

"Not against Eugene," Lewis said instantly, making everyone laugh.

Eugene glanced at his watch and frowned. "Actually Kate and I need to be going anyway," he said, walking over to slip his cue into the rack.

"Where you going?" Oswald asked, his eyebrows knitting together. "I didn't think you had to be to work for like two hours."

"I have a few errands to run before work," Eugene explained, smiling at Oswald's concern.

"Well I can drive Kate home if you need," Lewis offered, straightening up. "If she doesn't need to be home this soon, I can drop her off on my way home."

Kate looked around awkwardly. "Oh, I don't want to be a problem," she said, waving her hand.

"It's no problem," Lewis said with a shrug. "It's on my way. I have to get home about the same time you do so I can get ready for work. It'd be easy and then you won't have to be sitting at home doing nothing for that long."

Kate was glancing between Eugene and Lewis, indecision on her face. Eugene was giving Lewis a strange look, but Lewis tried to ignore it, not wanting to know what was going through the man's head. She bit her lower lip thoughtfully and then shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, Lewis, but I still need to shower and get something to eat before work," she said. "And trust me, it takes a lot longer to shower when you have a stomach like this," she added with a smile.

Lewis tried not to let the response bother him and he was able to act impassive, but for some reason he felt a slight tinge of disappointment inside. Not understanding it, he ignored it as well as he could. "Alright then, thought I'd offer," he said, putting on a small smile. "See you later then."

"See ya," Kate replied, giving everyone a smile and wave before she followed Eugene around the side of the house. There was silence until they heard Eugene's car back out of the driveway and disappear down the street.

"You like her, don't you?" Drew said abruptly, startling Lewis.

"What?" Lewis replied stupidly, still trying to regain his composure after the strange statement. "Are you accusing me of having a crush on Kate?" he asked, trying to sound as incredulous as possible. "Please, this is Kate we're talking about. She's impossible."

"I think you're in denial," Drew said. He gazed at Lewis shrewdly and Lewis tried to retain his act. "I think you're starting to fall for Kate."

"Oh sure," Lewis said sarcastically. "I'm going to fall for the woman who has repeatedly rejected me in every way possible since we were kids. Who wouldn't want to have that sort of ego damager around all the time?"

"Then why would you keep asking?" Oswald asked curiously.

"To annoy her," Lewis said, shrugging casually. "I gave up on actually getting a yes out of her decades ago. Now I just keep doing it because it irritates her."

"You liked her when we were kids though," Drew put in.

"Yeah, well which one of us didn't?" Lewis replied. "All of us liked Kate when we were kids. Only difference is I gave up on it shortly after high school when you two didn't." This made the other two stop and they lapsed into quiet, none of them looking at each other.

"Anybody up for another game of pool?" Oswald asked suddenly, looking up eagerly with a smile that suggested correctly that he had already pretty much forgotten about the disagreement. Drew and Lewis exchanged quick looks that served as closure to the discussion and then both agreed to the game.

Time swept by as the three of them played several games of pool and talked about random things that held no real purpose. The sun sank towards the horizon, until the drop in temperature brought Lewis' attention to his watch. "Oh hey, I've gotta go," he said, slipping his cue into the rack and draining his beer. He dropped the bottle into the trashcan, waved a quick good-bye to Oswald and Drew, and then hurried out to his car.

Climbing down into the vehicle, he grumbled to himself again. "I really need to get a bigger car," he muttered, starting the car and heading off. His car was simply not built for a six and a half foot man, leaving his legs cramped and his head scraping the ceiling. Still, no matter how much he complained about the car he had yet to replace it, partly out of finances and partly out of affection for the car since he had had it for quite a few years.

His thoughts were on Kate once again as he made the familiar drive to the Warsaw. He knew that Drew had been right, and that he was falling for Kate. Truthfully, he'd been falling for Kate more every day since they had been in elementary school. He had just never acted on it because Kate was so openly hostile to him. Now it would just be too complicated to get involved with her, even if she did give him the chance. Not only would he have to worry about the fact that Drew and Oswald both loved her, but she was about to have a child. Lewis didn't think he was ready to have to take care of a kid.

As he was passing through an intersection, a loud honk and glare of lights jerked Lewis back to the present and he felt his heart leap into his throat. There was no time to react as the SUV came flying under the red light and into the driver's side of his small car. Pain lanced through his body and he felt a sickening wave of vertigo as his car rolled sideways, and then quite suddenly everything drifted into darkness.


	11. Waiting Room Worries

Kate jogged into the waiting room as quickly as her stomach would allow, Eugene following close behind her. She spotted Drew and Oswald sitting in a corner and made her way toward them. They had been conversing in low voices, but when Drew spotted her, he looked up, a grim expression on his face.

"We came as soon as we could find people to cover our shifts. How is he?" Kate asked instantly.

"No word yet," Drew replied. He helped her into the seat next to him and Eugene sat beside Oswald across from them. "Oswald saw him earlier when he was talking with a doctor though and said he looked horrible."

"He looked horrible," Oswald echoed weakly and his lower lip began trembling. Eugene threw an arm around his shoulders and Oswald leaned into him, crying into his shoulder.

"Do they know what happened?" Kate asked, turning back to Drew.

"Some bastard blew a red light and hit Lewis' car, right on the driver's side," Drew said bitterly. "The car was completely totaled. I guess they said it got flipped quite a few times before it came down."

"Oh God." Kate blanched and her hands lifted to cover her mouth as she felt tears escape her. Drew rubbed her back soothingly, tears mounting in his eyes as well. Oswald was crying uncontrollably as Eugene held him, and even the older man had streaks of tears on his cheeks. The lack of solid information filled them all with fear as they tried not to wonder if they would ever see Lewis alive again.

Each minute that passed felt like an extra pound of weight on everyone's shoulders. Although they were all exhausted, none of them could sleep. The uncertainty of their friend's fate hung around them like a thick cloud and it felt nearly suffocating. Every time a doctor walked into the waiting room they all looked up hopefully but slouched back into their seats when he approached someone else.

Finally a young male doctor strode directly towards them and everyone stared at him, almost not daring to believe it. They both craved and feared what news he might bring. When he had reached their corner the doctor glanced down at his clipboard and then gave them all an encouraging smile.

"You're here for Lewis Kiniski, aren't you?" he asked and they all nodded. "Alright then. I'm Dr. Aarons, and I've been treating him. Which one of you is –" he paused and consulted his clipboard again, "Oswald Harvey?"

"I am," Oswald said, standing up in his eagerness. He was as white as the doctor's coat, except for his eyes which were still red and swollen from crying. "How's Lewis?" he asked before the doctor could say anything more.

"He's stabilized," the doctor replied and gave them another encouraging smile. "Your friend, Mr. Kiniski, is one lucky man. According to the paramedics who brought him in, if his car had landed on its roof when it was thrown he would have broken his neck. He's not in the best of shape at the moment, but he is alive and I can guarantee you that unless another problem arises he will pull through."

All four of them exhaled heavily at the doctor's words, relief seeping into their faces. Oswald was so overcome that he slumped down into his seat again and Eugene gripped his shoulders protectively.

Dr. Aarons cleared his throat, drawing their attention again. "Mr. Kiniski won't be able to do much for a while though," he said. "He amassed quite a few injuries in the wreck. His left forearm is broken and his left ankle was fractured, although it is a fairly small crack. He has several cuts from the broken glass that required stitches. We worry that there may be problems with whiplash, as men of his height and build are more prone to back and neck injuries, so we will monitor that. Also until he wakes up we can't judge where there was any damage mentally or not."

"He's still not awake?" Drew asked in concern. "But it's been hours."

"We did have to partially sedate him so that we could set his arm and treat his other injuries, so we think that is a largely contributing factor," the doctor explained. "Don't worry, he is showing no signs of going comatose. He responds well to all of the nerve testing and his eyes still visible move. He is simply unconscious."

"Can we see him?" Oswald asked, the pleading in his voice enough to squeeze even the hardest heart.

Dr. Aarons grimaced, clearly struck by the plea. "I'm sorry, sir, but we can't allow visitors until he is conscious and we have assessed him completely," he said sympathetically. Oswald nodded dejectedly. "I think –" the doctor hesitated, thinking hard, "I think that I can take you back to see him though. You can't go inside the room, but at least you can see him for yourself."

Oswald was on his feet before the doctor had even finished his sentence. "Could you?"

"Yes, but only you," Dr. Aarons said, glancing hastily at the others. "I'm only going to be able to get away with this because you are listed as Mr. Kiniski's emergency contact and next-of-kin. And we cannot stay long."

"Thank you, sir," Oswald said, shaking the doctor's hand gratefully. The doctor nodded to them all and then led an anxious Oswald away into the maze of rooms. The remaining three were silent as they watched him walk away and continued to stare at the door long after he'd disappeared.

"Thank God he's alive," Kate breathed suddenly, startling the men. She was still pale and shaking, her face streaked with trails of tears. Drew grasped one of her hands in both of his while Eugene came over to her other side and took the other, rubbing her upper arm with his free hand. They sat like that, silently comforting each other, until Oswald returned fifteen minutes later. Oswald dropped into the seat on Eugene's other side and placed his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands.

"How is he?" Drew ventured tentatively.

"Bad," Oswald answered. "He's got casts and bandages everywhere and he's covered in cuts and really pale. He doesn't – he doesn't look like Lewis." This last statement made his voice falter slightly and soon he was crying in Eugene's embrace again.

* * *

Kate and Eugene were conversing in whispers, trying not to wake either Drew or Oswald, who had both fallen asleep in the waiting room. A nurse suddenly stopped by them and said, "Excuse me, are you the group here for Mr. Lewis Kiniski?"

"Yes," Kate answered. She gently shook Drew, who came awake muttering something about a cat. Eugene shrugged his shoulder where Oswald's head was resting and Oswald sat up, blinking sleepily. He soon spotted the nurse and was instantly wide awake.

"Mr. Kiniski is awake now. They tested him and so far everything seems to be perfectly functional," the nurse said. "Only immediate family can visit now, though. Are any of you his family?"

"I'm Oswald Harvey," Oswald spoke up. "Dr. Aarons said that I could see him because I'm next-of-kin."

The nurse examined her notes and nodded. "Oh yes, it says that here. He's in room 17A, can you find it on your own?"

"Yeah, thanks," Oswald said, standing up. He glanced at the others and said, "I'll tell him you're here." When they all agreed he walked off again.

"If he stays stable for six hours then we can move him up to a room and you can all visit him," the nurse said with a gentle smile before she turned and headed back to the reception desk. Relieved to know that Lewis was awake and well, Kate's exhaustion caught up with her and within minutes she drifted off to sleep with her head on Drew's shoulder.


	12. A Short Visit

Kate woke up when she heard somebody saying her name. She blinked a few times and then glanced at Drew, whose shoulder she was currently leaning on. "Wha-?" she mumbled sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Oswald just got back. They're moving Lewis up to a room," Drew said, straightening up. Kate looked around in surprise, not believing she could have slept that long, but the faint sunlight visible in the window told her otherwise.

"He's feeling better then?" Kate asked through a muffled yawn, stretching after her awkward sleeping position.

"A bit," Oswald answered. He looked exhausted and worn, the furthest from his naturally childish self that any of them had ever seen him. "He's not as pale, but the drugs were starting to wear off when I left and he was starting to hurt."

"I can imagine," Eugene muttered, standing up and running a hand back over his head. Since he had very little hair this was an unnecessary gesture, but he was prone to doing it when he was thinking.

"Where are they moving him to?" Kate asked as she stood up as well, with Drew's help.

"Third floor," Oswald said. He gestured vaguely for them to follow him and then turned and headed for the elevators. Drew, Kate, and Eugene trailed him silently, the two men lagging behind enough to make sure that Kate could keep up with Oswald's set pace. They traveled up to the third floor in relative quiet with the exception of the doctor who stepped into the elevator with them and muttered to herself as she wrote on her clipboard. At the third floor they stepped out and walked to the receptionists' desk.

"Hello, how can I help you?" the secretary asked pleasantly, looking up at them from behind the desk.

"We're here to see Lewis Kiniski," Oswald said. "They were moving him to a room up here. Do you know which room he's in?"

The secretary typed something into her computer and then her eyes panned down the screen. "Ah yes, here it is," she said. "He's in room 34. But he is only permitted one guest at a time for the moment," she added, looking up at their small group.

"Okay, thank you," Oswald said. The four of them started towards the small waiting room. "Who's going to visit him first?" Oswald asked as they walked. "I've been with him for the last six hours; I think one of you should."

"Drew can," Kate said, panting slightly. "I need to sit down and rest for a moment before going anywhere." The men were all startled into reality by this statement and they promptly helped Kate down into one of the armchairs in the sitting room.

"You going to be okay, Kate?" Drew asked nervously.

"I'll be fine," Kate said, waving her hand vaguely. "Just a little winded. You go see Lewis. I can go visit him when you've finished."

Drew hesitated for a moment. "Well if you're sure you'll be okay," he started apprehensively.

"It's okay, Drew," Eugene spoke up suddenly. "We'll be here with her. Go see Lewis." Drew wavered for a second longer and then nodded, turning and heading off towards Lewis' room. Eugene and Oswald sank down into chairs on either side of Kate. They spoke little while they waited, mostly wrapped up in their own thoughts that left an anxious air swirling around them.

A half-hour later, Drew came back looking more relaxed than he had earlier but still extremely nervous. "He kept asking about you, Kate, so I figured I'd let you go see him before he gives himself a heart attack," he said with a half-hearted laugh. "You going to be alright to get there by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now," Kate said, accepting his hand to help her up out of the chair. Once she had gotten the room number from him she started off down the hall, following the signs until she finally spotted it. Taking a deep breath, she tentatively peered around the edge of the door.

The figure lying in the hospital bed made her gasp and her hands covered her mouth again. To say that Lewis looked bad would have been an understatement. He was fairly pale, although his cheeks did seem to have a little color in them. His left arm was encased in a white cast, as well as his ankle, and every other inch of his exposed skin seemed to be peppered with cuts. His left eye was closed and there was a thick cut above it that ran up through his eyebrow and into his hairline which was visibly stitched shut.

At the sound of her gasp, Lewis' head rolled to face the door and Kate saw that his right eye was still opened although the other was shut. He grinned dazedly when he spotted her. "Hey, Kate," he said, his voice hoarse.

"Hey, Lewis," Kate replied, stepping into the room cautiously. "How are you?"

"Just glad that you didn't ride home with me," Lewis answered. "Hey, would you mind coming around to my right side? Sorry, but I can't open my left eye so it's easier to see you over here. It's still numb from being stitched."

"Oh, it's no problem," Kate said and she walked around to the other side of the bed. The chair that she assumed Drew had recently been using was standing beside the bed so she sat down and turned her attention back to Lewis. "How are you feeling though? Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Not at the moment, but the doc says it's 'cause I'm on a pretty nice dosage of morphine," Lewis said casually. "I still don't feel all that great, but then I don't look so great either so I guess it makes sense."

Kate gave an almost exasperated smile at this. "Even when you're horribly injured you're still being a smart ass," she said, shaking her head. Nothing seemed to be able to damage his dry sense of humor, including his own near-death experiences.

Lewis chuckled weakly. "Some things never change." They were quiet for a moment, both staring at each other thoughtfully. "You know, you're the last thing I remember seeing before I passed out," he said suddenly. Kate furrowed her brow in confusion. "That's why I was so worried about you. Oswald or Drew probably told you I kept asking about you. I know you weren't there, but I clearly remember seeing your face before I blacked out. When I woke up and realized where I was the first thing I asked the doctors was if you were alright. Of course, they had no idea who you were and they had to convince me that you weren't there at all. But I know the last thing I saw was you." He paused and then shrugged, although the movement made him wince and he immediately stopped. "I guess maybe you were just the last thing I was thinking of or something."

Kate stared at Lewis in silence, not sure how to respond. It had been becoming more and more clear to her over time how much things had begun to change between her and Lewis. They had always been friends, even if they weren't very close, but their personalities had always rejected each other and they had a tendency to act like enemies as much as friends. Yet over the months since she had gotten pregnant they had slowly grown closer and more comfortable around each other until now Kate felt as dearly for Lewis as she did Drew or Oswald. She had to wonder if it was an effect of the hormones from her pregnancy, but she had a feeling that they played a very minimal part in the whole.

"Kate, are you alright?"

Lewis' voice startled her back into reality and Kate looked up at him in surprise. "What? Yeah, I'm sorry, I dazed out for a moment," she said, shaking her head slightly in an attempt to make herself more alert.

"What were you thinking about?" Lewis asked. His voice wasn't suspicious or prying, simply curious.

"You, mostly," Kate answered with a small laugh. "Well, I guess it was more about you and me. How much our friendship has changed over the last few months. Before, we never would have gotten along like this. We were always at each others' throats. What changed?"

"Nothing, really," Lewis said. "We're still the same people that we used to be; only you're pregnant and I'm strung up in a hospital. I think it was just that there were finally circumstances that let us see past each others' hard exteriors. I think I've learned more about who you are in the past few months than I have in all the years we've known each other."

Kate thought this over, biting down on her lower lip pensively. "You know, I think you're too damn smart for your own good sometimes," she finally said, making Lewis laugh.

Lewis' one-eyed gaze flicked over her thoughtfully for a few moments. "I never wanted just a fling."

"What?" Kate asked in confusion, lost by his abrupt change in topic.

"You told me once that the reason you never agreed to sleep with me was because you thought all I wanted was a fling," Lewis explained. Kate's eyes widened in comprehension as she remembered the conversation he was talking about. "I never wanted just a fling, though."

"Lewis, you've been trying to get me to sleep with you since high school," Kate said, her expression showing disbelief.

"So my methods were a little skewed," Lewis said with a hollow laugh. "In high school you were always mentioning the guys you'd slept with. It seemed to mean so much to you. I thought that maybe if you slept with me then maybe we could be more than friends. Even though you always told me no, I kept trying. We were around twenty-five when I gave up on you ever giving in, and by then I just kept offering to annoy you because I was bitter."

Kate sat back in her chair, chewing on her lower lip thoughtfully. She didn't want to consider the possibility that Lewis was telling the truth about all of this. That Lewis actually had feelings for her, or at least did at one time. But the way he spoke about it she couldn't tell if he still did. "We can't be more than a fling though," she murmured, almost more to herself than to him. "We are the in-betweens. We don't have those meaningful relationships. All we would do would be get together, find out it doesn't work, and break up. Then we'd be in the same awkward place that I am with Drew and Oswald now. I really love being able to talk to you now as a friend, I don't want to risk that."

Lewis kept silent for a moment, his one opened eye turned away from her and staring at the ceiling in an oddly detached way. "What if it would really work though?" he asked in barely more than a whisper. "What if it's like you said at the bar that night? That two in-betweens should be together. Maybe that's the reason neither of us has found that meaningful relationship yet, because we were looking for people too different from ourselves." He paused, grimaced and then twitched his head in what Kate assumed was an attempt at shaking his head. "Never mind, that doesn't make sense. Just forget about it. You're right, it would just complicate things. Besides, it's not like you've ever liked me as more than a friend anyway. And I've moved on. Let's just – let's just forget I'd said any of that."

Kate stared at him thoughtfully. It was such a strange sight to see Lewis so flustered, but even stranger to hear him talk about emotions seriously. There was a deeper level to Lewis that people rarely saw, and though Kate had gotten the occasional glimpse into that, she was starting to wonder how much more there was to him. Could it be possible that the crass and crude Lewis secretly wanted to find that one girl that he could spend the rest of his life with? It seemed completely insane to even consider it, but he was really making it seem that way. Or maybe it was just the morphine.

With a quiet sigh, Kate glanced sideways at the clock on the wall and she winced. "Oh, Lewis, I should probably go," she said with a hint of regret. She hated to have to walk out when their conversation was so personal, but she knew she needed to. "Oswald wanted to see you again before he had to leave to go to work, and he'll need to leave soon. I'll go and let him come see you for a while."

"You'll come back?" Lewis asked, finally glancing back at her.

"Yeah, I'll come back later," she agreed, smiling at him. She heaved herself out of the chair and placed a hand on the small of her back to steady herself. Carrying all that weight in the front was really starting to wear her down. "Get feeling better."


	13. A Few Kinds of Wisdom

Lewis used his fork to poke curiously at the tray of food on the little table that hovered over his bed. He wasn't exactly sure what they were feeding him, but it didn't look particularly edible. He grumbled something inaudible to himself and set down the fork. He'd been in the hospital for three weeks now and he was counting down the days to his release. The cast on his ankle had been replaced with a softer one, and he was allowed to get up and walk as long as he wore the thick walking boot. Most of his cuts had healed and the stitches had been removed from all of the deeper ones except for the one above his eye.

A quiet knock on the door gave him an excuse to turn his attention away from his meal. A smile touched his face when he saw who was standing in the doorway.

"Kate," he said brightly. Kate shuffled into the room and sat down carefully in the chair beside his bed. "I hadn't expected you to come visit anymore; you've got less than a month until you're due."

"Well being home on maternity leave is pretty boring," Kate replied. "And I figured you were fairly bored too, so I thought we might as well be bored together. Right?"

"Sounds good enough to me," Lewis said. "You give me an excuse not to have to eat this…whatever it is."

Kate glanced at the tray and grimaced. "Looks – _appetizing_," she said, not disguising her disgust. "Oh which reminds me, I brought something for you."

"Please tell me it's a beer," Lewis said, watching her reach into her bag.

Kate looked up at him and laughed. "Not holding up to being sober so well, are you?" she said jokingly. "If I don't get a beer, you don't get a beer."

"Then I hope that baby comes soon," Lewis said, glancing at her bulging stomach.

"You and me both," Kate agreed. She reached into her bag again and then handed something to Lewis. "A little something to combat the boredom when there's no one here to distract you."

Lewis reached across with his right hand and took the book from her. "Huck Finn," he said with a smile. "I'd just started reading this –" He caught sight of the bookmark sticking from between two pages. "Wait, this is my copy. How'd you get this?"

"It wasn't too hard to get it from your room," Kate said with a mischievous smile. "Eugene and I had gone up to visit Oswald. While I was distracting Oswald, Eugene went into your room and he grabbed the first book he could find out of the box under the bed. I'm glad it was the right one."

"Quite the plan," Lewis said, still looking from the book to Kate with surprise. "Why all the secrecy?"

"You said you didn't want Oswald to find out," Kate answered. "I don't want to make Oswald feel uncomfortable anymore than you do."

"Thanks," Lewis said and smiled up at her. He set the book carefully on the bedside table and continued to stare at it for a moment before he turned back to Kate. "Thanks," he said again.

"You're welcome, you're welcome," Kate replied with a sarcastic grin. Lewis laughed. He was grateful that Kate had learned to take his sincere moment in stride. At first they had always surprised her and often resulted in awkward pauses, but as she'd grown used to them it had been less uncomfortable and Lewis didn't mind saying them as much. She would silently acknowledge the sincerity and then return the conversation to a casual tone.

"So have you decided what you're going to name her yet?" Lewis asked.

"I may have," Kate said slyly, "but even if I have, I'm not saying. I've told you that a hundred times already."

"Oh c'mon, why not?" Lewis whined.

"Because I'm not sure yet," Kate said. "I won't be sure what I want to call her until I see her."

"See her?"

"Yes, see her," Kate agreed with a nod. "Names just fit people. Could you imagine me being called anything but Kate? Or Oswald being called anything but Oswald? Or even yourself being anything but Lewis? Names just fit people."

Lewis contemplated this a moment. "I suppose that makes sense," he admitted. "But how will you be able to tell? You won't know her personality, and all babies just look like, well, like babies."

"I don't know," Kate said with a calm shrug, seemingly unconcerned by the whole prospect. "I guess I'll just know."

"Oh, right," Lewis said to placate her. He really had no idea what she meant by that, but he was passing it off as more of her 'pregnant logic,' as he and the other guys had started to call it. She seemed to come up with lots of strange theories and understandings that the men couldn't grasp, and that truthfully wouldn't make sense to almost anyone, so they blamed it on the pregnancy.

Kate was completely oblivious to his weak answer as she stared vaguely at the wall, lost in thought. This was also an occurrence that had been picked up during her pregnancy, and always left the men curious to what had her attention. She dismissed their questions with a blank response that it was nothing.

She suddenly stirred and turned her gaze back to Lewis. "So when are you supposed to be released?"

"So long as everything goes well, sometime next week," Lewis answered. He was all-too-eager to be out of the hospital. Even though he was allowed up to walk around every few hours, he was still getting stir-crazy and wanted to be out. "I can't wait to get back to the Warsaw."

"You know you can't drink beer until you're off of those medications, right?" Kate asked with an eyebrow cocked.

"Yes," Lewis answered huffily. "The atmosphere's just better than here. Maybe just the smell of the beer will make me feel better."

"Oh yes, I'm sure it will," Kate replied sarcastically.

* * *

Drew came into the kitchen and was completely unsurprised to see Oswald at the table, a beer bottle already in hand. "Hey, Oswald," Drew said, grabbing a beer from the fridge before dropping down opposite his friend at the table.

"Hey, Drew," Oswald replied. He was still dressed in his uniform and had apparently come straight from work. Drew was used to Oswald showing up by now; since Lewis had been hospitalized, Oswald had spent most of his time away from the apartment. Drew guessed that Oswald couldn't stand being there for long by himself and could understand his discomfort, so Drew had welcomed Oswald over as much as he pleased.

"You going to see Lewis later?" Drew asked.

"Yeah, just wanted to uncoil from work a bit and then I'll head over," Oswald said. There was something oddly detached about his gaze that made Drew concerned. Before Drew had the chance to ask, however, Oswald spoke up again. "Do you think Kate loves him?"

"Lewis?" Drew asked, although he already knew that was what Oswald had meant. "Well, yeah, Kate loves all of us in some way, I think. You can't be friends as long as we've been without loving each other."

"No, I meant loves him," Oswald repeated. "Like, has she fallen in love with him?"

"Oh." Drew thought over this question. He'd been wondering similar things for a while, but he hadn't wanted to say anything because of the delicate atmosphere since Lewis' accident. "I don't know. Why?"

"It just seems that way," Oswald said. "Ever since she got pregnant, they've been a lot closer. And since his accident she's gone up to the hospital almost as much as I have."

"She's just concerned," Drew defended. "She's worried about him, just like the rest of us. Besides, now that she's on maternity leave she probably goes to see him so she has something to do. Otherwise she'd just be home all day alone."

"I guess so," Oswald agreed grudgingly. "I still think there's something different between them."

"I think it's Lewis who's in love with Kate," Drew put in. "I know he used to like her when we were kids, but I think he's fallen for her again."

"I think so, too," Oswald nodded. "They won't get together though, will they?"

"I don't think so," Drew answered casually. "I mean, Kate's been turning him down for decades. Why would she change her mind now? And besides, Kate's a mom now. Lewis doesn't want to be a dad. He wouldn't want to get himself into that just to date Kate."

"Yeah, I never thought of that," Oswald said, a slight smile on his face. "I feel bad for Kate's kid, growing up not having a dad though."

"What are you talking about, that little girl's going to have four dads," Drew said with a laugh. "You and me, and Lewis and Eugene. We'll all be her dad. She'll be the luckiest kid in the world with that many dads to spoil her rotten."

Oswald laughed, a genuine smile coming to his face at the idea. Then his smile flickered for a moment and he asked, "You think Kate will find out who the father is? I mean, like have a test to find out who it is."

"I'm not sure," Drew said. He gazed down into his beer bottle thoughtfully. "I don't think she wants to know. Maybe she's afraid of losing the baby. For not really wanting to ever have kids, she seems to have grown to love it."

"I guess when something's growing inside of you, you get kind of attached to it," Oswald said with a shake of his head. "But have you ever thought…I mean, I know it's a silly thing to think…they've told us differently already, but…well, have you ever thought maybe Lewis really _is_ the father?"

Drew choked on his mouthful of beer and had to force himself to swallow. "Lewis, the father?" he asked in shock. "No, I don't think I've ever really thought about that. I mean, the thought crossed my mind when he said something about it at the restaurant that one night but when I thought about it, I just couldn't get it to make sense in my head. It seems – impossible."

"I thought so, too," Oswald said with a grimace. "I still do, but at the same time it's about the only thing that makes sense. The timing is just too perfect to be coincidence. She got pregnant just after she'd broken up with that Robert guy and Lewis had just broken up with Sandra. What if they slept together to – I don't know – get over it? Every time we bring up the baby's father Kate glances at Lewis, although she tries to hide it, and then Lewis changes the topic. He's the only one who doesn't seem to be curious who the baby's father is. What if -?"

Oswald continued on but Drew was only half-listening. His mind was whirring as these ideas flowed through it and he came to the realization that they were all true. Each new theory slipped in and only built on this discovery, leaving Drew reeling under the intensity of this understanding. "You may be right," Drew said quietly, cutting across Oswald without even realizing it.

"Maybe," Oswald said with a solemn nod. "I mean, Lewis has excuses for everything but I don't know if I can ignore all of the coincidences. It just makes sense."

"Yeah," Drew murmured, still too deep in thought to take in much. A short knock on the back door startled both men, and seconds later it opened and Eugene stepped in.

"Hey guys," Eugene said with a slightly tense smile. "Is Kate here?"

"No," both of them answered at the same time. "She's probably up at the hospital with Lewis," Oswald added.

"Oh, okay," Eugene said with a short nod. "I was just wondering where she was. This close to the due date I wanted to make sure she was okay, and I got a little worried when she wasn't home. Well I'm going to go up to the hospital then. Either of you care to come with?"

"I will," Oswald said immediately.

"I'd love to but I can't," Drew said. "I have to get cleaned up. I'm taking Abi out to dinner tonight."

"Ah, so things are still going good with the lady friend?" Eugene asked with a mischievous smile.

"Yeah, they're going great," Drew answered with a proud grin.

"Good to hear," Eugene said. "She's a lucky lady." Drew blushed nervously and turned his attention back to his beer. Eugene shifted uncomfortably, aware that he had just made the situation awkward. "Well, Oswald, you ready to go?"

"Is it alright if we run back to the Warsaw so I can change first?" Oswald asked, standing up. Eugene nodded so Oswald followed him out. "Bye," Oswald called out to Drew at the door. "Good luck with the date." Outside the pair climbed into their respective cars and headed toward the tavern. Once there, Oswald scurried up to his apartment and hastily changed his clothes before going back down and hopping into the passenger seat of Eugene's car.

"Thanks for the ride," Oswald said as he made himself comfortable in the seat.

"No problem," Eugene said, shrugging. "I figured it was easiest since I was already headed up that way." They lapsed into silence for a moment as they cruised up the road to the hospital. "I hope I wasn't interrupting something when I came in at Drew's house. You both seemed to be concentrating on something."

"We were just talking," Oswald said. "About Kate and Lewis." He hesitated, unsure of how much more to tell Eugene. He trusted Eugene and they had become fast friends, but he knew how highly Eugene thought of Kate and didn't want to offend him by suggesting that she was lying. "Eugene, do you know anything about the father of Kate's baby?"

Eugene cast a quick glance at him before answering. "No, nothing more than anyone else," he said. "Why?"

"Well I know Kate really trusts you and she talks to you, so I thought maybe she might have told you," Oswald said, already feeling ashamed at the assumption. "I mean, she must have some idea, right? She had to have slept with the guy to have gotten pregnant."

"If she does know, she hasn't told me," Eugene said firmly. "Have you ever considered that maybe she slept with more than one man in that space of time that she got pregnant, and she isn't certain which one caused it?"

"Including Lewis?" Oswald suggested tentatively. Eugene shot him a surprised look before turning his eyes to the road again.

"Lewis? She told me that they've never slept together, and I'm fairly certain that Lewis has told you the same thing," Eugene said. "Is this because they have become such close friends recently?"

"Well, that's part of it," Oswald said and then in a rush he told Eugene every detail he had gathered that pointed to his conclusion. By the time he had finished, Eugene had pulled the car into a parking spot at the hospital. "It just seems to make sense, doesn't it?" he asked, almost pleading to hear the man agree with him.

Eugene was quiet for a long time as the pair sat there in the car together, staring at the dashboard as if trying to frame his response perfectly. Finally he looked up at Oswald and the two pairs of brown eyes met. "You know what I think, Oswald?" he asked. Oswald shook his head. "I think that you should trust him. You and Lewis have been friends for too many years to throw away over a silly theory. He is your best friend and you love him. Don't be so quick to forget that."

With this sobering statement, Eugene climbed out of the car and started towards the hospital doors, leaving Oswald sitting in stunned silence.


	14. Going Home

Lewis was sitting anxiously, practically bouncing on the bed with anticipation. Today was the day he was supposed to be released, and he could hardly wait to get out of the hospital. Every time a doctor appeared outside the door he looked up eagerly, only to be left grumbling when the doctor passed by. Finally he picked up his book and began reading to distract himself, although he was so impatient he found it hard to focus.

"Hey buddy." Lewis jumped at the voice and reflexively tucked his book out of sight.

"Hey Oswald," Lewis replied, smiling when he saw his best friend standing in the doorway.

"Ready to get out of here?" Oswald asked with a grin, dropping into the chair by the bed.

"You've no idea," Lewis answered. "You here to bust me out?"

Oswald laughed. "Why else would I be here? Your food's not worth stealing." He glanced at the remains of Lewis' breakfast. "Not that there's anything left to steal. You've given in to eating this junk I see."

"Yeah. Tastes awful, but I was able to stomach it because it tastes a lot like your cooking," Lewis said with a smirk.

"Hey!" Oswald said, although he found it hard to fight a smile. "So has the doctor come to sign you out yet?"

"Not yet," Lewis said with an obvious grumble. "She's taking her time, apparently."

"Well I'm sorry, Mr. Kiniski, but I have other patients to tend to as well." Both men looked up as the doctor strode into the room with a sardonic smile. She gave him a meaningful look before glancing down at her clipboard.

"You couldn't have told me I could leave before talking to them?" Lewis asked, returning her smirk.

"Sorry, but since they still need my attention they took priority," the doctor said. "How's your arm?"

"Itchy," Lewis answered. Then his smile twisted again. "Oh, I see what it really is. You just don't want me to leave."

The doctor laughed. "Don't flatter yourself, Mr. Kiniski. How is your ankle?"

"You've fallen for me and that's why it took you so long," Lewis continued. "You had to steady yourself to let me go."

"How is your ankle, Mr. Kiniski?" the doctor repeated, rolling her eyes.

"It's fine."

"No swelling? Stinging? Pain if you move it?"

"No, it's fine," Lewis pressed. "Can I leave yet?"

"Anxious to leave?" the doctor asked with another smile, glancing at him over the edge of her clipboard. "I'm sure your girlfriend will appreciate it. She shouldn't be hiking up here every day as heavily pregnant as she is."

"What? Oh, Kate? No, she's not my girlfriend," Lewis said hastily. "She's just one of my best friends. She won't date me. Kinda like you, doc."

"Lewis, you keep harassing her and she's gonna keep you longer as punishment," Oswald warned with a grin.

"Hardly," the doctor laughed. "I wouldn't put myself through that sort of torture. No, I am going to sign his papers and hand him off to you to deal with. If you'd just sign these forms." Oswald stood and took the clipboard from her, signing at the places she pointed to.

"Finally," Lewis gasped dramatically. "Does this mean I can go change my clothes?"

"Please do," the doctor said, glancing over at him. "I'm tired of seeing your butt."

"And I never tire of seeing yours," Lewis answered as he climbed out of the bed. He grabbed the clothing bag beside the bed and then hobbled into the bathroom to change.

"Alright, is that all of it?" Oswald asked, eyes panning down the paper. The doctor scanned over the papers once again and then nodded.

"Yes, that's everything," she said. She took the clipboard back and then extended her hand. "Good luck with him, Mr. Harvey."

"Oswald," Oswald said instinctively. "Just call me Oswald. Being called formal names makes me feel awkward."

"Alright then, good luck, Oswald," the doctor said, giving him a kind smile.

"Thanks, doc," Oswald said, shaking her hand.

"Here are some numbers to call if you need anything," the doctor said, pulling out a business card. She hastily scribbled a phone number on the back of it and then handed it to him. "The first two are hospital numbers, but if there's ever something after hours or you have any questions, my personal cell number is on the back."

"Thanks," Oswald said in surprise, glancing down at the printed digits. He tucked the card into his pocket carefully. "I hope Lewis hasn't given you too much trouble."

"No, it was fine," the doctor said with a laugh. "I have had worse patients. It at least added a little flavor to the day." She glanced at the door to the bathroom that concealed Lewis and shook her head, an amused smile on her face. "Well, it was a great pleasure to meet you, Oswald."

"Yeah, you too," Oswald said. "I mean, to meet you too. Thanks for everything, Doctor Carter."

The doctor paused in the doorframe and glanced over her shoulder at him. "It's Jenna," she said. Then she flashed him another smile and disappeared out into the hall. Oswald stared at the empty doorframe in silence, his mouth slightly open. Had the doctor just _flirted_ with him?

The sound of the bathroom door opening made Oswald jerk his attention away from the spot where the doctor had been standing. Lewis was shuffling out of the bathroom, now wearing a pair of jeans and a loose tee-shirt. There was a large black brace on his left ankle and he had slipped his casted arm back into the dark sling around his neck. "Feels good to be in pants again," Lewis commented when he spotted Oswald standing in the middle of the room.

Oswald laughed at this. He walked over to the bed and gathered the few personal belongings from Lewis' bedside table. He was surprised to spot a book on the edge of the bed. "Taken up reading?" he asked in interest, lifting up the book.

Lewis' eyes widened at the sight of the book but he laughed. "Oh, that's Kate's," he said. "She forgot it when she was here yesterday. I was looking through it earlier. I was curious what kinds of books Kate would read."

Oswald stared at the cover with a concentrated expression and he suddenly smiled. "I think I've heard of this book before," he said. "They talked about it a lot when we were back in high school. Something about being racist."

"Yeah, it's from back in the slavery times," Lewis agreed, grateful that Oswald didn't seem to be looking too much into the fact that he had a book. "Anyway, should we get out of here before doc comes back and tries to keep me here?"

"Sure," Oswald said, following Lewis carefully out of the door. He kept an eye on his friend while they walked, checking for any signs of his ankle hurting him. "You know, I think your doctor likes me," he added as they stood in the elevator.

"Doc Carter? Really?" Lewis asked, glancing down at Oswald and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she's just always been real nice to me," Oswald said, shrugging self-consciously. "We've talked a lot since you've been here. And just today, she told me to call her Jenna."

"Shame, I thought she liked me," Lewis said unconvincingly. Oswald laughed, knowing that his friend had been joking. "So what you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," Oswald answered. They stepped out of the elevator and crossed the lobby towards the entrance doors.

Outside of the doors, Lewis paused and took a deep breath. "Sweet freedom," he murmured with a smile.

"Your ankle still okay?" Oswald asked. "The car's just over there."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lewis said. Nothing was going to dampen his good mood today. "I think you should go for it."

Oswald looked up in confusion. "Go for what?"

"Doc Carter," Lewis answered with a meaningful look. "Buddy, if you can get a girl like that interested in you, there's no reason _not_ to take that chance." Oswald grinned sheepishly, but didn't answer as he opened the passenger door of the van for Lewis. When Lewis had settled himself in, Oswald went around and climbed into the driver's side. As they drove along, Oswald glanced over at Lewis again.

"You really think I should go for it?"

Lewis looked at Oswald and laughed. "Yes," he said firmly. "And if you don't, I'll bust your arm. Then she can take care of you for a few weeks and you won't have any excuse not to talk to her."

"Yeah, I would," Oswald countered. "Doctors aren't supposed to have relationships with patients."

"Oh, so that's why she kept telling me no," Lewis mused.

"No, that's 'cause you were being annoying," Oswald said. "Besides, we both know you didn't really want to date her."

"What makes you think that?" Lewis asked. "She's hot, sassy, has a good sense of humor. Why wouldn't I want to?"

"She's not Kate," Oswald said simply. There was a moment of awkward silence. As Lewis opened his mouth to answer, Oswald cut over him. "Look, Lewis, you can deny it all you want but we both know it's true. You love Kate." Lewis closed his mouth, knowing that argument was pointless.

"It doesn't matter," Lewis said with a small, one-sided shrug. "Nothing's going to come of it."

"What if something could though?" Oswald asked gently, recognizing the defeat in his best friend's voice. "Shouldn't you at least try?"

"She doesn't want to," Lewis said, his tone suddenly turning emotionless. "She doesn't want to try it. There's not much I can do. I'll just have to live with it." Oswald felt bad about having brought the topic up. He took one hand from the steering wheel to grip Lewis' shoulder briefly and they rode the rest of the way in silence.


	15. Here Comes Trouble

Lewis leaned casually against the doorframe, taking some of the weight off of his left ankle. It didn't really pain him, but he was supposed to be taking it light and it had been quite a walk. His right hand snaked up and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Trouble," Lewis shouted through the door, a smile twisting his face. "Can I come in?"

"Lewis? Oh, that is trouble," was Kate's response. "Okay, come in." Lewis opened the door and entered, seeing Kate lounging on the couch. As he came in she lifted the remote and turned off the television. "You're by yourself," Kate noted. "How did you get here?"

"Bus," Lewis answered, sitting down next to her and stretching his legs out in front of him.

"You weren't afraid of getting roughed up by some gangsters?" Kate asked with a laugh. "After all, you're a cripple."

"No gangster would mess with a six-and-a-half foot man with an arm of solid plaster and a boot that could break legs," Lewis said simply, but he was smiling as well. "Besides, I was bored and lonely, and I figured you might be bored and lonely too. I'm returning the favor for all of those times that you visited me in the hospital."

Kate beamed. "How kind," she said. "Welcome to the world of those of us who are forbidden to work."

"Yeah, a week stuck in that apartment and I almost want to go back to work already," he replied, shaking his head. "Worst of all, I'm still not allowed to touch beer."

"So has Oswald called your doctor yet?" Kate asked interestedly.

"No, he keeps losing his nerve," Lewis said with an exasperated sigh. "The other night he made it halfway through dialing the phone number before he hung up." They had all been trying to encourage Oswald to call Doctor Carter and ask her out, with the exception of Eugene, but Oswald seemed to be finding it difficult to do so. His normally bold personality with women was failing him this time. "I bet poor Eugene will be happy to hear that," Lewis added, shooting a glance at Kate and raising an eyebrow.

"What makes you think that?" Kate asked, feigning innocence.

"Please, Kate, the man is sort of obvious," Lewis laughed. "I think everyone knows that he likes Oswald. Except Oswald."

"Of course," Kate said, laughing as well. She looked up and Lewis found himself momentarily stunned by how brightly her eyes were shining. They suddenly seemed to have so many more colors than the brown he had always seen. Different hues layered over each other and gave them astonishing depth, while her amusement made them sparkle. Her smile lifted her cheeks and made the corners of her eyes crinkle.

Lewis had moved before he had any awareness of doing so. The fingertips of his right hand rested along Kate's jaw and his head moved forward until his lips brushed against another pair of velveteen ones. As he felt her mouth against his, Lewis' senses were sent reeling and it took another moment before he even had any conscious knowledge of what he was doing.

_I'm kissing Kate._

Once this idea struck him Lewis heart leapt and then instantly sank. Kate had rejected him, she didn't want this. He tried to pull away but the hands that were interlaced behind his neck stopped him from moving. Maybe Kate wanted this more than he'd thought. Content with this logic, Lewis allowed himself to get lost in the momentary ecstasy again.

A knock at the door made the pair hastily push away from each other. "Kate?"

Kate and Lewis exchanged guilty expressions before Kate looked up at the door. "Yeah?"

"It's Eugene," was the answer. "Is it alright to come in?"

Kate ran a hand anxiously through her hair before saying, "Yeah, come in." The door opened and Eugene came in, smiling.

"Oh, Lewis, hey," Eugene said. "No Oswald? How'd you get here?"

"I rode the bus," Lewis answered, grateful that the other man couldn't see how fast his heart was racing.

"That's quite a walk from the bus stop," Eugene noted, slipping down into a chair. "I thought you were supposed to be staying off your ankle."

"It's not that bad," Lewis shrugged. "And I was bored at home. I'm willing to walk a little bit to not be bored and lonely. My ankle doesn't hurt much anymore anyway. Right now it just itches. These braces make your skin itch."

"That they do," Eugene agreed, chuckling. "I remember when I was in high school I broke my wrist." This launched the three of them into a lengthy conversation about old injuries that sidetracked several times until they were talking about entirely different topics. Lewis and Kate kept shooting each other inconspicuous looks during the conversation, but neither of them dared say anything about their shared kisses with Eugene present.

Lewis noticed that Kate seemed to grimace at random times during the conversation and finally after having seen this over a dozen times he cut across her in mid-sentence. "Kate, are you alright?" he asked. "You keep wincing."

"She's really moving today," Kate answered, resting both hands on her stomach. She gave a short gasp, her eyes squeezing shut as her breath hissed inward. "Guys, I think I need to get to the hospital."

Lewis and Eugene stared at Kate in silence for a moment, both of them stunned. Then they glanced at each other with wide eyes, not exactly sure how to react.

Kate winced again and then looked at them both. "Now!" she emphasized. This urged them both into movement, jumping up and helping Kate to her feet. Eugene grabbed a duffle bag that was prepared and tucked in a corner near the front door as they helped Kate slowly out of the apartment. She clung to their arms, her grip tightening painfully with every contraction. They managed to get her down to Eugene's car and Lewis climbed into the back with Kate. Eugene hurried to the hospital, driving as quickly as he could while not getting in trouble with the police.

Twenty minutes later, Lewis and Eugene were sitting in chairs in the waiting room of the maternity ward. There was silence between them as they both anxiously awaited any word from a doctor. Drew and Oswald had both been called at work to give them the news, but neither of them would be able to get out of work early so they'd have to wait a few hours before they could be there.

A middle-aged man strode towards where Lewis and Eugene were sitting and they both stood up expectantly. "Are you the men here with Kate O'Brien?"

"Yes," they answered together, nodding.

"Well, she's definitely going through contractions, but they are still too far apart to actually induce labor," the doctor informed them. "I would guess that it will happen sometime today, early tomorrow at the latest, but for now all we can do is wait. You are welcome to visit her if you feel, one at a time, please."

Four hours later, three men were gathered together in the waiting room, a shallow conversation between them simply to distract them from the wait. Eugene was in with Kate at the moment. The four of them had been cycling through spending time with Kate over the last few hours.

"This is taking forever," Drew complained with a heavy sigh. "It's been hours. Is that normal?"

"The doctors said that everything is normal," Lewis said, shrugging.

"I guess at least we know Kate's kid is going to be just as stubborn as Kate," Drew suggested. They all laughed at this.

"I need a drink," Oswald suddenly declared, standing up. "I'm going to go down to the vending machine in the lobby and get a drink. You guys want anything?" Drew and Lewis shook their heads and Oswald vanished towards the elevator. A few minutes later Eugene appeared and took Oswald's vacated seat. Without a word of exchange between them, Lewis stood up by silent consent and headed down to Kate's room.

Inside, Kate was lying on the hospital bed. A lot of the equipment was already in the room, ready for when the time came. Kate glanced over and her smile was faltered by a wince. "You boys are working like clockwork," she said.

"Have fear, we're organized," Lewis joked, coming over to stand by her bed. "How are you holding up?"

"Well I'm alive, but I'm more than ready for this to be over with," Kate answered. "The time's coming, I can feel it. The contractions are a lot closer together. Every minute or two now."

"You're almost there, Kate," Lewis said and he pushed a few strands of loose hair from her forehead.

"Lewis," Kate said suddenly, her tone more serious. "About what happened at my apartment…"

"I'm sorry," Lewis said immediately. "You said you didn't want a relationship. I crossed the line. I didn't mean to, it just happened without me realizing. I'm sorry."

"No, Lewis, it's okay," Kate said. "I didn't stop you, it was as much my fault as yours." She hesitated. "But now I'm not sure whether to put it behind us. There was a lot more to that kiss than I would have expected from you. From you I expected eagerness and maybe even lust, but that wasn't what I felt at all."

"I told you I never wanted just a fling," Lewis answered, his characteristic goofy grin lifting his cheeks and reducing his eyes to slits. This familiar sight made Kate laugh. Lewis' right hand found her hand lying on the bed and he gave it a short squeeze, not releasing it. "I may not always tell the truth, but I wasn't lying to you about that, Kate."

Kate laughed again, but it was suddenly cut across by a loud gasp. Her face tightened with pain and Lewis knew immediately what was going on. He crossed to the door and stuck his head out. "Doctor!" he shouted. "We need a doctor in here." A doctor raced into the room and two nurses followed shortly after.

Lewis hovered in the doorway, not sure where to be. "Lewis." Kate's pained voice made him turn around in the door. "Don't leave me. I don't want to do this alone." Lewis was still apprehensive, but the doctor's didn't seem to have any complaints so he nodded and stepped up to the bedside again. He grabbed Kate's hand and she held onto it with a death grip.

"It's okay, Kate," Lewis said, trying to sound soothing although he was wincing through the pain in his hand. "Everything will be –" The rest of his sentence was drowned out when Kate gave a quiet scream.


	16. The Beginning of a New Life

Oswald fumbled with the buttons on the vending machine, grumbling angrily when the 'sold out' light flashed at him. He pressed two more buttons with the same results until finally the machine gave a deep humming noise and a soda bottle fell into the slot at the bottom. He stooped down to get it, but a voice made him stand up hastily in surprise.

"Oswald?"

Oswald shot up and spun on his heel, nearly unbalancing and putting a hand back against the machine to keep him standing. There was a woman with dirty blonde hair pulled into a messy braid standing in front of him, dressed in jeans and a light sweater. Oswald had to stare at her for a moment before he recognized her.

"Dr. Carter?" he asked in disbelief.

"No, at the moment I really am just Jenna," she answered with a cheerful smile. "My shift just ended. What are you doing here? Please tell me it's not Lewis."

"No, our friend Kate's having her baby," Oswald said, smiling at her comment about Lewis.

"Oh that's great," Jenna said brightly. "Well, I wish her luck. It was nice to see you again."

"Yeah," Oswald said distractedly, his mind racing. Jenna gave him a wave and began walking away. "Jenna, wait!" he suddenly called. She stopped and turned back to him and Oswald hastily cleared the distance between them. "I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to – well – hang out some time. Maybe have lunch or something," Oswald said, stammering nervously.

Jenna seemed momentarily surprised but then she smiled again. "That sounds great," she said. "I was starting to wonder if you were really interested."

Oswald was taken aback. "You were actually expecting me to ask you out?" he asked in confusion.

"I don't give my personal number out to just anyone," Jenna said with a mischievous grin. Oswald felt his ears go red and he smiled in response.

"Hey, you know, we're all just sitting around upstairs right now," Oswald started. "Me and Lewis and Drew and Eugene. You could come up and hang out with us for a bit if you wanted. Unless you have other plans or something."

"That sounds like fun," Jenna said. "I think I could come up and socialize for a while. I don't need for be home for a few hours anyway. I'm sure you boys need something to distract yourself anyhow." Oswald grinned and the two of them headed back up to the maternity ward.

Drew looked up in surprise when Oswald approached with Jenna at his side. It was at that moment that Oswald realized he'd left his drink in the bottom of the vending machine. "Wow, Oswald," Drew said. "When you said you were going to get a drink, I expected you to bring back a Coke."

"I'm the new Jenna-Cola," Jenna joked, slipping into one of the chairs.

"You're Lewis' doctor, aren't you?" Eugene said, surveying Jenna with a curious eye.

"I was, yes," Jenna agreed. "Speaking of Lewis, where is he?"

"Back with Kate," Drew answered. "The nurse says that she's finally gone into labor. Guess Lewis got trapped in there." He grimaced at the thought. As much as he wanted to be there for Kate, he wasn't sure he could endure actually being in the room while she was giving birth.

"Ooh," Jenna said sympathetically. "Great, I'll likely end up tending him for a broken hand now. I'm not sure I could handle that." The men chuckled appreciatively. "I'd have thought the father would be the one who would want to be in there with her, though," she said, glancing around the group. It was clear she assumed one of them was the father.

"It's none of us, if that's what you're thinking," Drew said hastily, reading her expression.

"Kate's not exactly sure who the father is," Oswald murmured. Jenna nodded and smiled, but to his surprise she didn't seem to have any problem with the concept.

"So, the baby, is it a boy or a girl?" Jenna asked interestedly. Oswald could tell she was trying to keep the conversation going and he was grateful for it since all of the men were worried about Kate. The distraction stopped them from thinking about it too much. Jenna made sure to stoke the conversation up again every time it started to fade off, and the men never realized how much time had passed until much later. About a half hour after Jenna had arrived, Drew's cell phone went off and he hastily explained the situation to whoever was on the other end. This turned out to be his girlfriend, Abi Mitchels, who arrived ten minutes after the phone call and berated Drew for not telling her sooner, before she joined their small group.

* * *

Lewis had completely lost feeling in his hand and he was starting to wonder if he would ever get it back. There was no possible way to escape Kate's grip, but even if he could Lewis knew that he couldn't leave the room. As uncomfortable as he felt being there, the desperation in Kate's voice when she'd begged him to stay was too much for him to combat.

He had absolutely no idea how much time had passed while he'd been in there, but he did know that he had been standing long enough to make his ankle start to ache, although this pain was slightly dulled by his hand. He concentrated on talking to Kate, keeping his voice steady and soothing, and encouraging her.

The sound of the baby's cry had been almost as much of a relief to him as it had been to Kate. He watched as the doctor's cleaned up the baby and wrapped her in a towel before handing her to Kate. Kate held the little girl against her chest and even though her face was red and soaked with sweat, she smiled at the sight.

"What are you going to name her, Ms. O'Brien?" one of the nurses asked. She was poised to write it down on what Lewis assumed must be the birth certificate.

Kate gazed down at the little girl for a moment and then answered in a hoarse voice, "Leslie Marie O'Brien." The nurse nodded and wrote this down.

"Leslie," Lewis repeated, as he leaned over to look at the little girl. Her crying had quieted now and she was making soft gurgling noises. Lewis' hand reached out and he brushed his thumb against the girl's cheek. The little eyes opened to a squint at the contact and Lewis found himself staring at a pair of almond-shaped green eyes. The small cheeks creased with a sleepy yawn.

He instantly fell in love.


	17. Maybe It's A Sign

Fifteen minutes later Lewis limped out into the waiting room. The entire group stood up when they saw him coming and Oswald raced forward to help Lewis into a seat. "How is she?" Oswald asked as he lowered Lewis down.

"She's good," Lewis answered, grunting as he stretched his sore ankle. "Kate's sleeping now and they're taking the baby into the nursery. They're both fine."

"You don't look it though," Jenna spoke up, surveying Lewis.

"Doc?" Lewis asked in confusion. "Are you stalking me now?"

"Hardly, Lewis," Jenna said, shaking her head. "I ran into Oswald in the lobby and he invited me up to socialize." Lewis glanced over at Oswald, who smiled sheepishly. Lewis grinned and gave a nod of approval. "You know you aren't supposed to stand on that ankle for long, but I suppose under the circumstances I can't really berate you," Jenna continued, ignoring the gesture. "Let me see your ankle though."

"Doc, is that really necessary?" Lewis asked. Jenna gave him a sharp look and he instantly relented, lifting his stinging ankle up onto the little coffee table. Jenna unstrapped the walking boot and examined his ankle, which was swollen and slightly purple.

"Definitely bruised, but it doesn't look like there will be permanent damage," Jenna murmured, prodding his ankle gently with her fingertips.

Lewis winced and grumbled, "Yes, it hurts. Do you have to keep poking it?"

"Lewis, quit being such a baby," Drew jibed. "Speaking of baby, what did Kate name her?"

"Leslie," Lewis answered, keeping an eye on Jenna as she continued to examine his ankle. "Leslie Marie."

"Last name?" Oswald asked curiously. It was clear they were still trying to get a clue as to who the father was.

"Just O'Brien," Lewis said.

"When can we see her?" Abi cut in excitedly. Lewis was startled, not having noticed that she was there at first.

"They're taking her into the nursery, so you can go down to the nursery but you have to see her through the window," Jenna said, not looking up from her work. The others stood up but Jenna glanced pointedly at Lewis. "You aren't going anywhere for the moment," she said sternly. Lewis opened his mouth to protest but Jenna silenced him with glare. "You need to stay off this ankle for a while or you're going to do serious damage. I'll get you some ice."

"Yes, sir," Lewis said sarcastically, leaning back in the chair. Jenna stood and walked off down the hall.

"Lewis, we're going to go see the baby," Drew said, patting him on the shoulder. "You going to be alright here alone?"

"I'll be fine, you guys go see her," Lewis said, waving a hand at them. "I've got Dr. Hitler looking after me," he added with a smirk. Drew laughed and then headed off, Abi clinging to his hand and jabbering excitedly. Eugene followed quietly and Oswald had turned to leave but Lewis grabbed his arm. "So I take it you went for it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Oswald said, grinning proudly. "We're going out next weekend."

"Good show, buddy," Lewis said, patting Oswald on the arm. Oswald smiled again and then set off after the retreating group. A few moments later, Jenna came back into the waiting room, carrying a small plastic bag filled with ice. She set this on Lewis' ankle, making him flinch away from the cold, and then sat down.

"They went to see the baby?" she asked, glancing at him and raising an eyebrow questioningly.

Lewis nodded. "Good guess," he said with a smirk. They sat in silence for a moment before Lewis looked up at the doctor again, his smirk still in place. "So, you and Oswald, huh?"

"I don't see how it's your business," Jenna said, her cheeks reddening just slightly.

"He's my best friend, of course it's my business," Lewis said simply. "Besides, it was just an innocent question."

"Innocence is not something I would expect from you, Mr. Kiniski," Jenna laughed.

"You cut me to the quick," Lewis said, placing a hand on his heart as if he were really hurt. "Look, I was just curious. It's not often Oswald catches a girls attention, especially a lady who appears to be mostly sane. I'm just keeping an eye out for him."

"That is surprisingly compassionate," Jenna said, giving him a strange look. "I definitely didn't expect that."

"I get that reaction a lot," Lewis said, laughing.

"Well don't worry," Jenna said, reaching out and patting Lewis' arm lightly. "I really do like Oswald." She glanced at him. "But what about you? I can tell that you like your friend Kate. Why hasn't anything happened there?"

"She doesn't really want anything to happen," Lewis said with a shrug, trying to appear nonchalant. "She's just never really wanted to date me. Besides, I gave up on her years ago."

"No you didn't," Jenna said confidently, shaking her head for emphasis. Lewis looked up with furrowed eyebrows. "You may think you've convinced everyone that you don't care about her anymore but everyone can see that you do. The only person who doesn't get it is you, Lewis."

"I wish that was right," Lewis said. He leaned forward so he was closer to Jenna and then lowered his voice. "I wish that I didn't know how much I love her, okay. But there's nothing I can do about it. This whole relationship business is sort of a two person deal and it doesn't work if only one person is willing to try. She doesn't want to be with me." Lewis paused, his thoughts jumping back to earlier that day. The feel of Kate's lips against his, the way she responded without fear or uncertainty. She had even told him that she did not try to stop him. That there had been so much more to the kiss than she'd expected, making her question if she wanted to forget it. Could she possibly be changing her mind?

"Besides, she's a mother now," Lewis said in a feeble attempt to keep up his argument. "She's got a child to take care of. I'm not ready for that. I'm not ready to be a dad."

"Especially a kid that's not your own?" Jenna asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lewis asked defensively.

"You aren't ready to try a raise a kid that isn't your own," Jenna said with a shrug. "It's one thing to raise your own children, knowing that you were the reason they were born. It's something entirely different to raise someone else's kid. To feel like its thrust upon you without you having any say in the matter." Lewis narrowed his eyes curiously. "Yes, I speak from experience."

"How so?"

"My sister's kid," Jenna said. "My sister got pregnant by accident during a wild weekend in New York. When the boy was two my sister developed leukemia. After a few years her body stopped responding to the treatments and when her son was five my sister died. The boy was left in my care, and I've been raising him for two years now. I was resentful in a way at first. I was a single woman with a good career. All of a sudden I was responsible for a young boy, and it took him a while to come around to me. He knew I wasn't his mother as much as I did. Still, after the first year we both relaxed and now you would be hard-pressed to guess that we aren't actually mother and son." She gave Lewis an encouraging smile. "It takes getting used to, but it's worth it. Besides, you've got an advantage. That little baby girl has no idea that you aren't her father."

"It's not just that," Lewis said. "I just really don't know if I can be a dad. I've never really been around little kids a lot, and I don't have a lot of experience. What if I'm not a good parent?" He sighed and shook his head. "Besides, what if things don't work out between me and Kate? That little girl would think I'm her dad and then I just leave her. That would really screw her up in the head."

"Lewis, you're never going to get anywhere if you spend all your time wondering 'what if,'" Jenna said with a quiet laugh. They were silent for a few minutes as Lewis pondered over this bit of wisdom.

"You going to tell Oswald you have a kid?" Lewis asked suddenly.

Jenna bit her lip hesitantly. "Yes," she said. "I would obviously have to at some point." She looked up at Lewis. "Do you think it would make a difference to him? I mean, would he not want to date me because of it?"

"Probably won't matter to him," Lewis answered honestly. "Things like that don't seem to affect Oswald the way they do other people. He'll probably just want to meet him, and he'll definitely want to know how you came around to having a kid. I think Oswald has always wanted to have that family scene though. The whole wife and kids thing. Who knows, it may make him want you more," Lewis added with a smirk.

Jenna had opened her mouth to answer, but stopped when she saw Oswald, Drew, Abi, and Eugene coming around the corner towards them. Abi seemed to be talking extremely excitedly and the men were only half-listening, except for Eugene who seemed to not be listening at all and was wearing a rather sulky expression. They all came and sat down in the little area that they had taken over.

"She is a real beauty," Oswald said with a slightly dazed grin.

"You know, Lewis, she has your eyes," Drew said, looking over at his friend with a strange expression. Lewis opened his mouth to point out that it wasn't his child, but Drew cut across him. "I know she's not your kid," he said instantly. "I was just making a comment. Her eyes are the same color as yours."

Lewis was silent for a moment. When he thought back on it, he realized that Leslie's eye really were the same color. Jenna leaned forward, on the pretense of standing up, but in the process she whispered so that only Lewis could hear, "Maybe it's a sign." Lewis looked up at her in surprise but she said nothing more on it.

"Well, sorry to leave, but I need to be getting home," Jenna said with a cheerful smile at them all. Oswald jumped up.

"Can I walk you to your car?" he asked eagerly.

"Sure, thank you," Jenna said with a suddenly shy smile. "Well it was nice to see you all again, and nice to meet you, Abi." She waved, patted Lewis on the shoulder, and then headed for the elevators with Oswald trotting along at her side.

"So, you have other plans, or is it just getting late?" Oswald asked, his voice displaying nothing but childlike curiosity.

Jenna took a steadying breath. "Actually, I need to be home before my son gets home," she said, watching Oswald's reaction nervously.

"Your son?" Oswald asked in confusion.

"Well, he's not actually _my_ son," Jenna said hastily. "He's my nephew. But my sister died a few years ago so I've been raising him."

"Oh, that's nice," Oswald said, his simple smile returning. "How old is he?"

Jenna breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She couldn't believe how calmly he was taking this. Lewis had been right; it really didn't seem to bother Oswald at all. "He just turned seven," she said.

"Isn't it kind of late for him to still be at school?" Oswald asked, glancing at a clock as they stepped out of the elevator. "It's nearly six."

"Well he goes to a friend's house after school and they are on a local basketball team together so they have practice in the evenings," Jenna explained. "It makes it easier on me too, because it gives me time to finish work and get home before he does. Although today we may make it there around the same time." They walked out of the hospital and into the nearby by parking garage and Jenna stopped in front of a small luxury car.

"Well then I won't keep you," Oswald said. "I'll call you tomorrow about plans for next weekend?"

"That sounds good," Jenna said with a smile. "Then I'll talk to you then." She seemed to hesitate for a moment and then she stood on her toes to plant a quick kiss on Oswald's cheek. "Thank you," she murmured and then she hurriedly turned and climbed into the car. Oswald just watched, stunned, as she drove away, and then slowly a goofy grin covered his face.


	18. A Chance for the Moron

Kate looked surprised when she opened the door to see Lewis standing there. Lewis smiled, straightening up from his position against the doorframe.

"Hey Kate," he said, slightly anxious. "I hope you don't mind I stopped by. I haven't seen you since you got released from the hospital and I wanted to see how you and Leslie are doing."

"Oh, yeah, it's fine," Kate said, seemingly getting over her shock. "Come in." She stepped back, allowing him to step past her into the living room. "How'd you get here? Bus again?"

"Nah, Oswald dropped me off on his way to Doc Carter's," Lewis said. His eyes panned over the room, picking up the subtle signs that this was now the home of an infant. He sank gratefully into the couch, taking the weight off of his ankle.

"Oh, that's right, today's the big first date," Kate said, grinning. "He nervous?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," Lewis laughed. "He probably changed his shirt nine times before I stopped him. I haven't seen him this worked up over a girl in a long time. I think he's still having a hard time believing that a lady like Doc is really interested in him. And of course he's scared that her kid won't like him, too."

"Yeah, that would be hard," Kate agreed. She came over and sank down on the couch next to Lewis. "I don't think he needs to worry too much though."

"Probably not, but he'll worry anyway," Lewis said with a shrug. "How are you handling the mom thing?"

"It's okay right now," Kate said. "I don't get as much sleep, because as soon as I fall asleep she wakes up. It's not too bad, yet, but when I go back to work it may be a problem."

"You know, I was thinking," Lewis said. "Leslie Marie. I don't remember ever hearing that on your list of possible names."

"It wasn't."

"Didn't think so. So, what, you 'just knew' it was the right name?"

"Sort of," Kate said. "It actually does have some significance to it." She was trying to act casual but Lewis could tell she was a little agitated.

"Going to say what this significance is?" he asked curiously.

"Probably not," Kate answered and gave him a teasing smile. "It's really only significant to me and I like it better that way." Lewis raised an eyebrow but Kate changed the subject. "How's your ankle?"

"Better," Lewis said, flexing it inside the walking brace. "Swelling went away and it's starting to get to the point where I can walk for longer. Doc says I'll be lucky if I don't always limp a little though."

Kate grimaced apologetically. She'd felt guilty when she heard that Lewis had hurt his ankle by staying with her. Lewis had continually tried to convince her that it wasn't her fault, but it had done little good.

"Good news though," Lewis suddenly said with a big grin. "One week later and I've finally gotten the feeling back in my fingers." He flexed his right hand as if to prove this point, but his smile was mischievous. Kate rolled her eyes and pushed him. "Careful," Lewis said, moving his right arm to shield his left. "I only just got this new cast. I'd hate to hurt my arm and have to get that damn plaster thing back."

A few days prior Lewis had gotten his plaster cast cut off and they had replaced it with a sturdy brace made of flat metal plates and cloth. It was used mostly to give him some protection from light impact until the bone had had more time to strengthen, as well as to keep his hand mostly immobilized so he didn't overwork the repairing tissues. He was still adjusting to the fact that his arm suddenly weighed a few pounds less, but he was being very careful not to reinjure himself.

"How long do you have that cast on for?" Kate asked interestedly.

"So long as everything keeps healing right, one month," Lewis said with a sigh of exasperation. "I can tell you, I'll be glad to get back to working normally. I was supposed to start working again next week, but Doc decided she wanted me to wait a bit longer to give my ankle a bit more to heal." He glanced at Kate and caught the guilty look on her face. "Not your fault, so quit thinking it. Doc just likes to torture me. If it were anything else, I'd think it was sexy, but this is just cruel." Kate stared at Lewis for a moment and then shook her head, making a disgusted noise, although she was smiling faintly.

"Kate," Lewis said and the sudden loss of mischievousness in his voice made her look up interestedly. "When we were talking at the hospital, just before everything happened, you said that you weren't sure whether to put what had happened between us in the past or not. Where were you going with that?"

Kate bit down on her lip, trying to find a way to say what she wanted to. "I don't really know where I was headed with it," she admitted. "I was just making a comment really. Or more, confessing how confused I was. You're good at doing that, confusing me." Lewis grinned almost proudly at this, making Kate laugh. "I just don't know what to make of that kiss. It was so different than I would have expected."

"It was a lot better than that time we kissed in grade six," Lewis put in with a quiet laugh.

"Oh yeah, when I had mono," Kate said, smiling as she remembered. They were both quiet for a moment, lost in their thoughts.

"Look, Kate, I have to know," Lewis said. "Do you really like me? It seems like you do, and like you want to be with me, but then you keep pushing me away. I'm getting mixed signals here."

"I don't know, Lewis," Kate said. She gave a heavy sigh and sunk back into the cushions, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. "It's just such a risk. What if – what if it doesn't work?"

"Then you'll have to date Eugene 'cause he's the only of your friends you haven't dated yet," Lewis said, trying to keep his face serious but there were creases forming at the corners of his eyes from the smile he was fighting.

"Lewis," Kate said in exasperation. "I'm being serious."

"Alright, alright," Lewis surrendered. "Look Kate, it may work and it may not. But if we don't ever try then in the future we'll always be wondering if it might have worked out and wishing we'd tried. I really like you and I want to at least give us a shot." He shifted, scooting closer to her and reaching over to let his right hand rest lightly on her arm. "What do you say?"

Kate looked up at Lewis, her brown eyes glossed with unshed tears. There was a hurricane of emotions cascading across her features and Lewis felt his heart catch in his chest. He slipped his left arm cautiously, trying not to jostle it, around her shoulders and she willingly moved closer to him. Her head leaned against his shoulder for a moment and Lewis could hear her trembling breaths. Finally she met his eyes again. "I – I just –" she trailed off and then took a deep breath, as if fortifying herself. "I want to try."

The smile that broke out on Lewis' face was so bright and genuine that Kate laughed. Lewis was ecstatic. He kissed her forehead quickly and was surprised when a moment later Kate had captured his lips with her own. Senses reeling, Lewis pulled her closer and sank into her kiss. It had taken about twenty-five years to finally get her, but he felt that it was worth it. Kate also seemed to be enjoying herself, allowing herself to relax against him and dropping her barriers.

A high-pitched wail made Lewis and Kate suddenly separate. It took him a second before Lewis realized what it was and he let out a noise torn between amusement and annoyance. Kate laughed at the expression on his face and slid out of his embrace. "Welcome to the joys of dating a single mother," she said. She stood up and disappeared into the next room, and moments later the sound of the crying child died away.

Kate came back into the room, cradling the blanketed infant in her arms. Her movements were suddenly so much more careful and balanced as she walked to the couch and sat down carefully beside Lewis. "She likes attention too much," Kate said with a laugh. "She cannot stand to be in a room by herself."

"Oh, she's got to be the center of attention just like you," Lewis said with a cheeky grin. Kate glanced up and glared at him, but said nothing. Out of curiosity, Lewis scooted closer and peered down over Kate's shoulder at Leslie. The wispy traces of hair on her head were so dark that they appeared black, and her brilliantly green eyes fixed on Lewis' face. A gurgling noise akin to laughter escaped her and her cherub cheeks bunched as she smiled.

"You want to hold her?" Kate asked, looking up at Lewis' face hovering over her shoulder.

"No," Lewis said quickly. "No, I don't think I should. My arms still braced, I wouldn't be able to hold her very well." Lewis was relieved when Kate nodded. Honestly, he was afraid of to hold Leslie at all. She was so small and fragile that he was scared she would break. "God, she's beautiful," he whispered, mostly to himself.

Kate gave him a smile. "You know, Drew was right," she spoke up suddenly. "Her eyes really are just like yours."

"I think hers are bigger than mine," Lewis said, looking down at Leslie's face. "And definitely brighter."

"No, I think yours are just as bright," Kate countered, turning to look at his eyes. "Your eyes are just so squinted that the color is – shadowed."

"Shadowed, huh?" Lewis asked thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll just have to keep them open so everyone can see." He opened his eyes as wide as he could and Kate burst out laughing at the sight. Lewis promptly blinked several times, trying to return moisture to his eyes. "Ow, never mind. That dries my eyes out really fast."

"That's good because it looked ridiculous," Kate said, still laughing. Lewis grinned at her.

"That bad?"

"Yes, that bad," Kate agreed. "Having small eyes just suits you."

"I'll take that as a compliment, I suppose," Lewis said with a grin. Kate laughed and they both lapsed into silence for a moment. As he gazed down at Leslie, a sudden thought struck Lewis. "How do you think the guys will take it? I mean, us being together."

Kate bit down on her lower lip, not looking up at him. "Well I know Eugene will just say 'I told you so,'" she said with a half-hearted laugh. "But Drew and Oswald… I think they will be okay with it. It may take time to adjust I guess, but I don't think they would really cause trouble about it. Especially now that they are both settled into other relationships." She paused and this time glanced up at Lewis. "You know, this will only make them think that you're Leslie's father again though."

"It's not again, it's still," Lewis said. "They say that they believe that I'm not, but they always still wonder if I might be. They don't say anything about it but I can tell. Especially Oswald."

"I'm sorry," Kate said and it was clear that she meant it.

"Don't worry about it," Lewis said with a shrug. He tucked a strand of loose hair behind Kate's ear. "There's nothing that could be gained by letting them know the truth. Even if we told them, they would probably still think it was me. It's just the way things go. I don't mind, really." He glanced down at Leslie, who was drifting off again in Kate's arms. "I wish she were mine so you wouldn't have to deal with all of this."

Kate met his eyes and smiled. "Thank you, Lewis." She kissed him lightly, being careful not to jostle Leslie.

Lewis kissed her in return. "Thanks for giving this moron a chance," he replied.


	19. Breaking the News

Lewis looked up as he heard the apartment door close and he tucked his book under his pillow. Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he heaved himself up and walked out into the main room.

"You're home late," he said. Oswald, who'd been walking into the kitchen, jumped in surprise and turned around.

"Oh, Lewis, it's you," Oswald said, relaxing. "You scared me. How'd you get home?"

"Eugene drove me," Lewis said. "He came over while I was at Kate's and when he left he offered to give me a ride." He slipped into the booth, making himself comfortable, and Oswald came to join him. "So, I'm assuming by the time that things went well?"

"You kidding?" Oswald said with a big grin on his face. "It was great."

"Did you meet her kid?" Lewis asked. Oswald looked surprised. "She told me about him at the hospital," he said by way of explanation.

Oswald nodded in acceptance. "Yeah, he actually came with us," he said. "He was going to go to a friend's house but I guess the other kid got sick. Jenna was all worried about ruining the date but I just asked Tyler if he wanted to come, too. It was great, he's a good kid."

Lewis grinned, knowing that his theory about Oswald loving the kid had been right. He owed Jenna a 'told you so' the next time he saw her. "What'd you guys do?"

"Went out for pizza and then went to an arcade," Oswald answered, still grinning excitedly. "That kid is a video game whiz." He stuck his hand into the pocket of his shirt and pulled out a strip of photographic paper. "This is all three of us. They had one of those picture booths at the arcade."

Lewis took the slip of paper and glanced down at the three pictures. Something about it caught him off guard. "The kid's black?" he asked, looking up at Oswald in surprise.

"Half." Oswald shrugged and leaned back into the seat, still smiling. Lewis almost laughed at how unaffected Oswald was by this, which is something that would startle most normal people. Shaking his head, Lewis glanced back down at the images. The three of them looked so comfortable with each other and they were obviously happy.

"You guys make a nice group," Lewis said, handing the pictures back to Oswald.

"Thanks," Oswald said, his smile broadening again. "So how'd things go at Kate's? Is she doing okay?"

"Things were great, yeah," Lewis said, slightly distracted. He knew that he needed to tell Oswald that he and Kate were now dating, but inside he was afraid to do it. While Oswald's reaction wouldn't change his mind about being with Kate, he still didn't want to have any tension between him and his best friend. Of course putting it off would only make the confrontation worse, especially if Oswald heard through someone else, since Eugene had already found out and Kate was planning on telling Drew tonight. Lewis raked his good hand back through his hair.

"Buddy, you okay?" Oswald asked, suddenly concerned.

Lewis looked up and smiled. "For being such an idiot sometimes, you're very perceptive."

Oswald smiled proudly, knowing that the comment had been meant as a compliment even if it didn't particularly sound like one. "What's up? Problems with Kate again?"

"No, not problems," Lewis answered. "Definitely not a problem." He hesitated but knew that waiting wasn't going to make it any easier. He ran his hand through his hair once again and then looked up at Oswald. "Actually, Kate and I are – well – we're together now."

Oswald stared at him in stunned silence and Lewis could almost see the truth processing inside his head. "Really?" he finally asked, his voice obviously surprised. Lewis nodded without a word, watching carefully for a response. Oswald seemed to think for a moment and then nodded. "Well congrats," he said, a faint smile touching his cheeks. "You finally got her to give in to you."

"Oswald, it's not like that," Lewis said, his tone serious and almost pleading. "This isn't about getting Kate to sleep with me or anything. I really, really care about her. I think – I think I love her." Lewis paused, surprising himself with that statement. Was he really in love with Kate? Sure, he had thought it enough times, but there was something that felt so different about saying it out loud. It was almost as if it changed it from a fantasy to a reality. As if being able to say it out loud made it true in a way that it had never been before.

"How long have you been together?" Oswald asked. Lewis looked up, shocked by the strange tone in his friend's voice. Oswald's face was composed for the most part but there was hurt in his eyes. Lewis guessed immediately what he was thinking. Oswald thought that they had been together for a while and had just never told anyone.

"Just since today," Lewis said firmly, trying to inject all of his honesty into his words. "I swear it."

"And Leslie…?"

"Really isn't my kid," Lewis emphasized. "I wouldn't keep something like this from you, buddy. You should know that. You're my best friend."

This little statement seemed to have an amazing impact on Oswald and for a moment the brunette looked breathless. He quietly mouthed, "He's your best friend…" Lewis watched him in confusion, wondering what was happening to Oswald, but Oswald seemed momentarily oblivious to the fact that Lewis was there. When he abruptly looked up at Lewis again, the change in his demeanor was surprising.

"Yeah, you're right," Oswald said, a smile on his face. "You're my best friend, and I trust you."

While he was grateful that Oswald believed him, Lewis was still a little disconcerted by the sudden change. Still, he smiled. "Thanks, buddy."

"And good luck with Kate," Oswald said, his smile only faltering just slightly and hardly noticeably. "You've got your hands full. Especially now. Do you think you're ready to be a dad?"

"I don't know," Lewis admitted. "But I care about Kate and I'm willing to try. Leslie is just so beautiful and little, I want her to have everything. Do you think I could give her that?"

Oswald surveyed the expression on his friend's face and then a contented smile touched him. "I think so," he said. "It's easy to see that you love her. Both of them," he added with a small laugh. "I think you'll do alright." Lewis said nothing, but the gratitude in his eyes said more than he would ever have been able to find words for.


	20. Eighteen Months Later

"Look at her go."

Lewis grinned as he walked along behind the infant. Leslie had his fingers in a tight grip as she took wobbling steps forward. Able to tell that she was doing something good, Leslie cooed and giggled cheerfully. When her steps wavered Lewis' hands closed around hers and he slowly lowered her until she was sitting on the floor again. From her spot on the couch, Kate smiled at the sight.

"She's getting good," Lewis said and sat down carefully on the floor beside Leslie, brushing a few of her loose toys out of his way. The little girl swiveled to look at him and grinned, revealing the four teeth that had just recently grown in. "You're going to be running around in no time, aren't you, Princess?"

Leslie giggled and clapped her hands together. When Lewis laughed, Leslie extended her hands toward him expectantly. Lewis picked her up and set her in his lap and she leaned back against his chest, settling into her favorite seat. The conversation going on overhead made Lewis look upward again, although he kept a cautious eye on the little girl reclining on him.

"You are definitely going to have your hands full with her," Drew commented, laughing as he observed Lewis. It had been remarkable, in his mind, what a change had occurred in Lewis over the last year. It seemed that having the little girl in his life had really softened his crass personality and although he still behaved like his old self with his friends, when Leslie was around his was careful to behave himself and it seemed almost impossible to take the smile off his face. Lewis had certainly transformed into a father.

"Yeah, she's going to be a real whirlwind," Abi chuckled from her position on the arm of the couch beside Drew. "I hope you're both still in good shape 'cause you're going to be chasing her all over the place. Heavens knows Drew can't help you." She leaned over and patted Drew on the stomach, grinning. Drew put on a fake scowl but inside he was laughing along.

A knock on the door turned the subject away from Drew's weight but before anyone could move to open the door it opened anyway. Oswald, Jenna, and her son, Tyler, walked in and shut the door behind them. "Hey everyone," all three of them said as they came in and the greeting was echoed back at them. They filtered in and slipped into seats and Tyler sat down on the floor, his back against Oswald's legs. Oswald seemed pleased by the gesture. From the beginning Tyler had immediate grown attached to Oswald and it was clear to see that he quickly came to look at the man as his surrogate father. Five months ago this affection had become legal when Oswald and Jenna married, and Oswald legally adopted Tyler.

Tyler seemed to be bouncing up and down with excitement and there was a giddy grin on his mouth, which he was determinedly keeping tightly closed. Everyone noticed this strange expression and exchanged looks. "What's up, Ty?" Lewis asked curiously.

Tyler looked up at his parents questioningly. Jenna and Oswald shared a glance and then Oswald nodded with an enormous smile. "Yeah, go ahead and tell them," he permitted.

"They're gonna have a baby!" The answer practically exploded out of Tyler's mouth. Everyone was stunned for a moment and then they all began congratulating them at the same time. Excited by all the commotion and noise, Leslie let out a high-pitched giggle that made everyone laugh.

"Still stealing the attention, I see," Jenna said, glancing down at the infant with a slightly dazed smile.

"Always," Lewis answered, wrapping one arm around the little girl's waist. Leslie placed her hands on his arm and snuggled against him.

"Oh, Eugene called yesterday," Kate said suddenly, looking over at Oswald and Jenna.

"How is he?" Oswald asked eagerly. Eugene had finally found another stable career, a high-ranking position at a distribution business, but it unfortunately required him to travel a lot. He enjoyed it, taking the chance to see the world while he was still alive and able to get pleasure from it, but he was always happy to see everyone when he got back.

"He's good," Kate answered. "He says he's only got another week in Tokyo and then he'll be back for about a month unless something comes up. You should call him and tell him the happy news."

"We'll do that when we get home," Oswald said and Jenna nodded in agreement. After this the conversation settled into the steady rhythm of exchanging news and stories. This had become a ritual for them; every Sunday they would gather at one of their houses for dinner and simple conversation. It usually circulated between Drew's house and Jenna's house, where Oswald had moved in with them, with the occasional weekend like this one at Kate's apartment. They avoided Lewis', since he was still living above the Warsaw for the time being, although he spent so much time at Kate's that he may as well have moved in.

An hour later they all migrated into the kitchen to dish up their dinners, although the lack of space in her small kitchen meant that they all ended up back in the living room to eat. Kate's plate was set to the side as she spoon-fed mashed vegetables to Leslie. Everyone got amusement out of watching this event while they talked; Leslie would pull a disgusted face every time the spoon entered her mouth but the moment she swallowed she would open her mouth expectantly again and whine if Kate didn't immediately give her more.

Shortly after Kate had finished feeding her, Leslie curled up against her mother's chest and yawned. Within minute she was falling asleep and Kate found it hard to move at all without bumping the little girl, who moaned at being woken.

"Want me to put her to bed?" Lewis asked, noticing that Kate was having difficulties trying to eat her own dinner because every time she tried Leslie would whine.

"Would you please?" Kate asked. Lewis climbed up off the floor and took the dozing infant out of Kate's lap. He carried her carefully into Kate's bedroom, trying to move as smoothly as possible and the fact that he still limped slightly on his left leg gave him a natural rocking motion. Moving her gently, Lewis laid her down in the crib that stood in the corner of the room and draped her blanket over her. She was half-asleep, her eyelids hanging heavily over her eyes and her hands loosely curled around the hem of the cover. For a moment he just stood and watched her, smiling as he gave down at the innocent sleeping face. Finally, he turned away and had just reached the doorway when a noise stopped him.

"Da!"

Lewis froze in the doorframe, not quite sure that he had heard correctly. The cry sounded behind him again and he glanced back over his shoulder. Leslie was sitting up in her crib, watching him with her green eyes wide. Staring straight into the eyes that were so like his own, Leslie called out, "Da! No."

Without another moment's hesitation, Lewis walked back to the crib. "What's the matter, Princess?"

Leslie lay back down and snuggled under the blanket, watching him out of her half-closed eyes. "Da," she murmured again. Lewis smiled and reached down to brush her cheek with his fingers. After only a few minutes, Leslie was completely asleep.

Straightening up, Lewis stepped out of the bedroom, leaving the door open so they would be able to hear when Leslie woke up. His mind was racing. Da. He shook his head, slightly overwhelmed by the whole thing. Leslie's first word had been to call him her father, and then to plead with him not to leave her until she was asleep. It made him smile and want to cry at the same time.

Clearing his head, Lewis entered the living room again and leaned up against the couch behind Kate, resting his elbows on the back of the couch and his arms on her shoulders. Kate looked up questioningly and Lewis knew why before she had to say anything.

"She woke up when I was carrying her back and wouldn't go back to sleep if she was in there by herself," Lewis explained and Kate nodded in understanding. Lewis contemplated for a moment about telling Kate that her daughter had said her first real words, but decided to keep it quiet. He was too distracted with everything that was going through his mind at the moment to worry about it anyway.

It was remarkable how much his life had changed in a year. He had gone from a futureless janitor with no real love life, per se. Shortly after he had returned to work he had been assigned to do deskwork until his ankle was completely healed, and he had done such a good job at it that he had been rewarded the position of maintenance manager. This put him on a different shift that was opposite Kate's so while she was at work he would watch Leslie, as well as increasing his pay quite a bit. It also helped that Buzz Beer had grown in popularity, so they were bringing in a much better profit from this. He and Kate had been dating smoothly for a year and a half now, with only a few small arguments that had been cleared away easily. Lewis knew without a doubt that he was madly in love with her now. And he had also fallen head-over-heels for that baby girl who thought he was her dad. Although he had been afraid of being a parent, he had grown so attached to Leslie that he was afraid of her growing up now. That little black-haired, green-eyed tornado had managed to rewrite his entire perspective on life.

"Lewis, you okay?"

Lewis glanced down to see Kate looking up at him. He smiled and bent down to kiss her. When they pulled apart he said, "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"You think too much sometimes," Kate said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot."

Chuckling quietly to himself, Lewis looked up to see that Oswald was watching him. As their eyes met, Oswald arched one eyebrow curiously. Lewis gave a solemn nod in response to the unspoken question. Oswald grinned and gave a nod as well before turning back to the actual conversation as if nothing had happened.

* * *

Kate pushed open the front door of the apartment and dropped her purse on the chair nearest the door, grumbling to herself about how much she hated Mondays. As she slipped out of her coat she looked around, surprised that Lewis and Leslie weren't in the living room. "Lewis?" she called out curiously. There was no answer. "Lewis?" she asked again, slightly nervous now. From her bedroom she heard Leslie give a squeal that broke down into giggles.

Confused, Kate hurried to her room and pushed the door open. Leslie was sitting in the middle of the floor on a blanket, alone, playing with something in her hands and giggling. She looked up when Kate came in and gave another squeal of excitement. "Where is Lewis?" Kate murmured to herself as she crossed the space to her daughter. She knelt down and tried to pry the object out of Leslie's hands. "What have you got here?" she asked, finally managing to get it away from the little girl.

It was a small jewelry box, the dark velvet currently slick with baby spit, and looked completely unfamiliar to Kate. "Where in the world did you get this?" Kate asked, looking down at her daughter, who was still giggling and now started clapping her hands eagerly. Curious, Kate opened the box and felt her breath catch in her chest at the sight. There was a small golden ring inside, adorned with three small diamonds. But the biggest surprise were the words that were printed on the inside of the lid, their bold black calligraphy standing out against the white cloth lining.

_Marry me?_

In surprise, Kate swiveled around on her knees and to her surprise saw someone else kneeling in the doorway. Resting on one knee, Lewis gave her a shy, nervous grin. For a moment Kate glanced back and forth between the ring in its box to Lewis' anxious face, at a complete loss for words. Then suddenly a bright smile split through her shock and she lunged at Lewis, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him excitedly. Behind her she could hear Leslie shouting happily and Kate was lost in the brilliant perfection of the moment.

When they finally pulled apart, Lewis smiled. "That was a yes?"

"Yes, smart ass," Kate answered, laughing and pushing his arm playfully. Lewis took the box from her hand and he carefully slipped the ring onto her finger.

* * *

Lewis signed the document and then pushed it across the table to the judge. The judge lifted it, scanned her eyes down it one last time, and then nodded.

"Well, everything looks to be in order," she said and looked up at the little group in front of her; Lewis Kiniski and Kate O'Brien, who'd been engaged for four months now and were to be wed in two months, and their nearly two-year-old daughter, Leslie. "These forms will go through the system within the week and then all of her papers will be changed from O'Brien to Kiniski. Congratulations, she is now legally your daughter."

"Thank you," Lewis said, shaking the judge's hand.

"It was my pleasure," the judge said pleasantly and glanced down at the papers again. A sudden laugh escaped her and when she looked up both parents were staring at her questioningly. "Oh, sorry, I just noticed that you and your daughter now have the same initials. LMK."

Lewis' eyes widened and then he glanced sideways at Kate, who smiled sheepishly at him. "The hidden significance?" he asked her with an eyebrow cocked. A faint blush in her cheeks, Kate nodded. Lewis laughed quietly, and leaned over to kiss her lightly. "I love you."

"I love you too," Kate said, smiling and kissing him again.

"Dad," Leslie whined. She stood up in his lap, looking up at him and crossing her arms over her chest.

Lewis laughed. "And I love you too," he said and gave her a quick kiss as well. Pacified, Leslie smiled broadly and wrapped her arms around his neck.


	21. Epilogue: The Only Thing I'm In Between

A/N: Just wanted to thank everyone who had read this. You all know who you are. Thanks, it made me feel good to see the stats going up everyday. I hope none of you are thinking of excommunicating me from FanFiction because of this fic, since I know that it tends to go OOC and its rather out there. I still had a fun time writing it though, it's definitely the fastest I've ever finished a piece of work of this length, and I was surprised at how long it ended up because I never meant it to reach twenty-one chapters. Well, thanks again, and here it is...

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Three Years Later

The Kiniski house was buzzing with movement. Not only was it Sunday, meaning that it was the day for the group of friends' usual gathering, but it was also the Fourth of July. Young children were running around the yard and their parents were attempting, in vain, to get them under control. Lewis was standing at the little grill, rolling the spatula between his hands and keeping his eyes on the cooking food as well as five-year-old Leslie. The little girl was standing in the middle of the lawn, an overlarge baseball mitt on her hand as she played catch with Tyler, now ten years old.

"Daddy, did you see?" Leslie asked, spinning around and looking at him with a big grin that was missing the front two teeth. She clutched the softball against her chest, bouncing in excitement. "I catched it. Did you see?"

"I saw," Lewis said, smiling. "Nice catch, princess."

Leslie giggled and then turned to look at Kate, who was setting plates on the folding tables that edged the yard. "Mama, mama, did you see?"

"Yeah, good job, honey," Kate said in return. "Throw the ball back to Tyler now." Leslie nodded and then tossed the ball at Tyler. When he caught it Leslie burst out in giggles and tried to clap her hands in excitement, although it was muffled by the mitt. Laughing, Kate continued setting dishes on the tables, maneuvering around her bulging mid-section. After two years of trying, Kate was pregnant again, and while she was only four months along, she was enormous because this time it was twins.

"Do you want me to put these out, Kate?" Abi asked, a stack of plastic cups in her hands. There was a similar bump on her stomach, although she was by now seven months pregnant.

Before Kate could answer, Drew came up behind Abi and wrapped his arms around her waist. "No, you go sit down," he instructed, taking the cups out of her hands. He placed a kiss on her shoulder and then stepped out from behind her.

"Please, Drew, I'm not an invalid," Abi said, placing her hands on her hips.

"No, but you are supposed to be resting," Drew pointed out. Abi continued to frown for a moment and then relaxed into a smile.

"Alright, fine," she surrendered. Drew smiled and kissed her before she walked away. Abi crossed the yard to where Jenna was sitting on a blanket, playing with her ten month old daughter. "Hi Marlee," Abi cooed, lowering herself down beside Jenna. "Ah, she's such a cutie. She looks just like you."

"Well I had to have one look like me," Jenna laughed. "Andrew is the spitting image of his father."

The pair looked up at Oswald, who was just coming out of the house with three-year-old Andrew on his back. The boy had inherited his father's curly, thick brown hair and goofy smile. With Oswald's childlike fascination with the simplest of things, the pair was practically identical.

Oswald walked over to where Lewis was standing, looking at the grill curiously. "How's the food coming?" he asked, eyeing the hamburgers.

"It's coming," Lewis answered with a laugh. "They'll be ready in just a minute. Now go away, you vulture. The both of you." Oswald and Andrew both laughed and wandered over to join in the game of catch between Tyler and Leslie. Five minutes later Lewis announced that the food was ready and the entire crowd flocked to the tables to dish up their plates before settling down in the grass to eat. The mood was bright and lively, full of talk and laughter.

When they had finished eating the children resumed their games, while the adults sat and simply talked while keeping watchful eyes on their own charges. The hours passed and the sun slowly set against the horizon. Lewis had vanished into the house after sunset had finally disappeared and minutes later reemerged with a pile of folded blankets.

Setting them down, he grabbed the top one and spread it out on the grass. "C'mon Leslie," he said, sitting down and reclining back on his elbows atop the blanket. "The fireworks should be starting soon." Leslie squealed excitedly and rushed over. She hastily claimed her favorite spot in his lap and leaning back against his chest. Kate sat down next to him, grinning at the familiar sight, and the other two families took blankets as well and spread out on the lawn, watching the sky expectantly. It wasn't long before there was a sudden explosion of color against the dark blue background and the younger children, and Oswald, gasped in amazement.

Lewis surveyed the scene around him, a habit that he still was prone to. Eugene was unfortunately absent, as he was currently in San Francisco for work. To his right, Oswald's new family took up two blankets by themselves. Oswald was sitting up with Andrew in his lap. Tyler sat on his one side, leaning against Oswald's shoulder, and Jenna was on the other side, holding Marlee in one arm while her other hand was entwined with Oswald's. To Lewis' left, Drew and Abi were leaning against each other and both had an arm around the other.

Lewis' attention turned to his own little family and he felt his faint smile deepen. Leslie was leaning back against his chest, her wide green eyes reflecting the brilliant colors of the fireworks that lit up the night sky. Next to him Kate was leaning back, propped up on one of her arms, the hand nearest him resting on her stomach. Her stomach, where their two little babies were growing. It had been a surprise and a blessing when Kate had finally gotten pregnant, but learning that they were going to have two children had made them both ecstatic. With a smile, Lewis turned his attention skyward once more.

He had never thought that he would actually have gotten everything that he now had. Honestly, before all of this chaos had started he didn't think that he really wanted it all. He had been fairly content with his life; a steady job, good friends, and the freedom to sleep with any woman he pleased. The family idea had never truly appealed to him, but all of that had changed when he had seen Leslie for the first time. Now he was married to one of his best friends, with one little girl that he adored as well as two more children on the way. After living in an apartment for a year, they had managed to buy a comfortable house in a neighborhood that was situated almost directly between Drew's and Oswald's houses. Their friendships were all still going strong, and they couldn't be happier.

Lewis felt a little hand slip into his and wrap around one of his fingers. At almost the exact same time, one of Kate's hands rested gently on his forearm and she leaned her head against him. Smiling, Lewis rubbed his thumb against the back of Leslie's soft hand and his head tilted to rest on the top of Kate's. There was a contented smile on his face and he felt pure bliss.

The only thing that he was in between now was one beautiful moment and the next.


End file.
